Well-known stock market trainer Avadhut Sathe faced Sebi’s music as the markets regulator passed an order impounding over ₹546 crore on Thursday.
The Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) ordered the impounding of unlawful gains amounting to ₹546.16 crore, which Sathe and his firm, Avadhut Sathe Trading Academy, had earned over the past several years from the alleged unregistered investment advisory and research analyst business.
What went wrong?
Avadhut Sathe, through his firm, collected a huge amount of money (over ₹601 crore) for all the courses provided by it. Out of these courses, there was evidence of unregistered activity in respect of eight courses offered to the public between 1 January 2020 and 9 October 2025, and the amount collected for these is ₹546 crore.
However, Sathe and his firm not only offered educational services, but they also gave stock-specific entry /exit points to participants in the live market, inducing people to place orders as per these recommendations, as well as informing them when stop loss triggers.
“The participants were being handheld in the live trading session. They are also asked to invest part of their capital in specific securities for better returns than FDs. None of these attributes would be seen in a case where pure educational activity is carried out,” noted Sebi.
Unregistered advisor
Sathe was not registered with Sebi as an Investment Advisor or Research Analyst. However, despite not being registered, he was providing investment advisory and research analyst services under the guise of stock market training programmes to a large number of investors, observed Sebi.
Sebi, in its order, also noted that the investors’ trust has been compromised and how the system is being abused for personal gains by Sathe and his firm by devising ways to circumvent the provisions of securities laws.
What is the Sebi order?
These are some of the things Sathe cannot do as per the order:
Avadhut Sathe and his firm will desist from offering unregistered investment advisory and research analyst services. They will cease to seek such activity or any other unregistered or fraudulent activity in the securities market.
Sathe is also restrained from buying, selling or dealing in securities, either directly or indirectly, in any manner whatsoever until further orders.
He has been told to open FD accounts within 15 days with a lien mark in favour of the Sebi and the monies kept therein will not be released without permission from the Sebi. The FD account will be for the amount of unlawful gains.
Banks are also directed that no debits can be made, without the permission of Sebi, in respect of the bank accounts except for the purposes of transfer of funds to the FDs.
He and his firm can also not buy any mutual fund units or securities with this money.
They are also directed to instantly withdraw and remove all websites, advertisements, representations, literatures, videos, brochures, materials, publications, documents, and communications in relation to the unregistered investment advisory and research analyst services activity.
Why is it important to seek advice from RIAs over finfluencers?
An RIA or registered investment advisor is an advisor certified by Sebi to share their advice with investors for a fee with regard to making investments in securities markets. The rules relating to investment advisors are defined in the SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013.
Their advice is very specific and aligns with the individual’s financial goals and risk appetite. RIAs are supposed to be completely unbiased towards investment in specific stock(s) or mutual funds.
RIAs are to investors what doctors are to patients. Just like a doctor prescribes a specific medicine to a patient based on their condition and diagnosis, a financial advisor tends to recommend an investment based on income and risk appetite to help meet financial goals.
This is why, Sebi – on several occasions – has cracked down on finfluences in the past. These include action against Baap of Chart and Asmita Patel.
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