SEBI sanctioned Avadhut Sathe and his academy after a 171-page order concluded they delivered investment recommendations via paid courses and WhatsApp groups without proper licenses. The regulator found the firm used misleading return claims and failed to conduct suitability assessments for recipients. Defending its practices, the academy stated that live market data demonstrations accounted for only 3% to 4% of course hours to illustrate concepts, prompting its appeal to clarify educational definitions.
Key points
Regulators determined the trading academy ran unregistered advisory and research analyst…: Regulators determined the trading academy ran unregistered advisory and research analyst services through training modules and private messaging groups.
The academy asserts its operations were strictly educational and relied on unmonetized so…: The academy asserts its operations were strictly educational and relied on unmonetized social media handles to provide continuous learning.
The planned appeal before the Securities Appellate Tribunal seeks to resolve perceived gr…: The planned appeal before the Securities Appellate Tribunal seeks to resolve perceived grey areas within current financial education regulations.
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Markets trader Avadhut Sathe, director of Avadhut Sathe Trading Academy Private Limited (ASTAPL), will reportedly challenge the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) order against him and his academy.
The move comes days after SEBI directed Sathe and ASTA to refund ₹546.17 crore collected from participants for providing unregistered investment advisory and research analyst services, along with interest of ₹67.87 crore.
While the SEBI order found that ASTA had provided unregistered investment advisory and research analyst services, the academy maintained that it operated solely as a financial-market training institution.
The academy used live market data only towards the end of its courses to explain students how to apply the concepts they had learnt, and these demonstrations accounted for approximately 3-4% of total programme hours, reported Moneycontrol citing advocate Vijay Sardana, who represented ASTA in its hearing before SEBI.
“ASTA’s position is that it has always operated solely as a training academy. None of its social media handles or channels are monetised. The social media handles were created for continuous learning,” Moneycontrol quoted Sardana.
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