Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has ordered financial infulencer Ravindra Balu Bharti to pay unlawful gains amounting to Rs 12 crore. The money was received for illegally providing investment advisory services.
The market regulator asked Bharti to deposit the money in a interest-bearing escrow account set up in favour of SEBI in a nationalised bank. The funds cannot be released without SEBI approval.
Ravindra Bharti Education Institute Pvt. Ltd. (RBEIPL), a stock market training institute co-founded by Ravindra and his wife Shubhangi Bharti in 2016, reportedly functioned as an unregistered advisory. Besides the couple, SEBI has also named the company's directors Rahul Ananta Gosavi and Dhanashri Chandrakant Gosavi in the order, banning them from the securities market and asking them to stop posing as investment advisors.
"An amount of INR 12,03,82,130.91 being the total unlawful gain earned from the alleged unregistered investment advisory business, shall be impounded from Noticee no. 1 (Ravindra Bharti Education Institute Private Limited)," the regulatory body's order read.
"India's capital market in the recent times has witnessed tremendous growth, characterised particularly by increasing participation of the common public based on investors' confidence. This confidence in the capital market can be sustained largely by ensuring investors protection. Disclosure and transparency are the two pillars on which market integrity rests," it added.
The action by SEBI comes after assessing the influence the company's founder has over investors. Ravindra has two YouTube channels under the name Bharti Share Market, one in Hindi and another in Marathi. Together, these channels have more than 19 lakh subscribers.
