Finfluencer Avadhut Sathe: Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has taken major action against finanfluencer and market trainer Avadhoot Sathe and his company ASTAPL and banned them from the securities market. SEBI alleges that both were giving investment advice without registration, due to which they have been ordered to return alleged illegal profits of ₹ 546.16 crore.
Who is Avadhoot Sathe?
Avdhoot Sathe grew up in a chawl in Dadar, Mumbai, studied engineering, and then worked in the IT sector in Singapore, Australia and the US. He claims that he has been trading since 1991.
After returning to India in 2007, he focused on trading and education and started Avadhoot Sathe Training Academy (ASTA) in 2008, which later expanded to 17 centres. His training included technical analysis, psychology, yoga and motivational sessions.
His YouTube channel with almost 1 million subscribers became a major source of his popularity. The fees for their three-month residential training program ranged between ₹21,000 to ₹1.7 lakh. In 2023, a video of him dancing while trading went viral, further increasing his fame on social media.
Why did SEBI take action?
SEBI said Sathe and his company ASTAPL collected ₹601.37 crore from 3.37 lakh people. They were actually giving stock recommendations under the guise of education despite not being registered with SEBI. His training was not just to teach, but also to encourage people to trade in specific stocks. Given the scale of the operation and its impact on investors, SEBI took immediate action.
Increasing criticism and rapid business expansion
Even before the action, Sathe was facing criticism from many market experts and fininfluencers. He was accused of sharing stock tips in private groups and giving advice on penny stocks, which was influencing new investors.
It is worth noting that the revenue of his training academy was approximately ₹ 17 crore in 2021, which increased to ₹ 86 crore in 2023. It is also estimated that this income can reach ₹200 crore by 2025, which shows their rapidly growing influence and business.
Interim order, opportunity to reply
It should be noted that this order is interim, so Avdhoot Sathe and his company ASTAPL will get a chance to present their case before SEBI. However, all restrictions will remain in force until the final order is issued.
These include staying away from market activities, stopping use of live market data, stopping promotion of trading performance and stopping providing any kind of advisory or research service. The instructions to return the illegal earnings of ₹546.16 crore allegedly earned will also remain in force.
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