New Delhi, February 7: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has impounded INR 53.67 crore from the Global School of Trading, an organisation run by a prominent stock market influencer Asmita Patel. The regulator has also issued a show-cause notice regarding an additional INR 104.6 crore collected as fees for various training programs, questioning whether these funds should also be seized.

The influencer, Patel, has over 520,000 YouTube subscribers and was found to have offered unauthorised investment advisory services under the guise of training programs. SEBI’s action follows complaints from 42 students, prompting an investigation into illegal advisory activities. The organisation ran several popular courses, including Let’s Make India Trade (LMIT), Master’s in Price Action Trading (MPAT), and Options Multiplier (OM). Madhabi Puri Buch's Term to End on February 28, Finance Ministry Invites Application for SEBI Chief Post.

Authorities have expressed growing concerns over the influence of unregistered financial advisors on social media. In April 2023, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted the issue, stating that while some influencers provide objective financial insights, many others mislead investors. In response, SEBI introduced stricter regulations in August 2024 to curb the activities of such “finfluencers.” SEBI To Adopt AI To Handle up to 1,000 IPOs in Next 2 Years: Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch.

This isn’t the first crackdown. In December 2024, SEBI barred YouTuber Ravindra Balu Bharti and his company from the securities market until April 2025, ordering them to disgorge INR 9.5 crore earned through unregistered advisory services. More recently, on January 30, SEBI prohibited influencers from using live stock prices in their content, preventing unauthorised financial advice from being disguised as investor education.

With these stricter regulations, SEBI aims to protect retail investors from misleading financial content and unauthorised investment advice circulating online.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 07, 2025 03:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).