MUMBAI: The Securities and Exchange Board of India has ordered Avadhut Sathe and his trading academy to refund ₹546.18 crore collected from participants, ruling that the entity offered unregistered investment advisory and research analyst services under the guise of stock market education. In a final order issued on Friday, the capital markets regulator also directed the academy and its founder to deposit ₹67.87 crore as interest into the Investor Protection and Education Fund. In addition to the refund mandates, SEBI barred Avadhut Sathe and the academy from accessing the securities market for two years, while his wife, Gouri Sathe, faced a six-month ban. Separate monetary penalties totaling ₹11.5 crore have been imposed across the three parties.
Advisory Services Disguised as Market Education
According to the market regulator, the programmes conducted by the Avadhut Sathe Trading Academy extended beyond general educational instruction into regulated activities. An inquiry established that the platform provided participants with security-specific trading guidance, entry and exit levels, stop-loss benchmarks, and specific strategies through training sessions and dedicated WhatsApp groups. SEBI noted that while educational services can legitimately cover fundamental market principles and risk management frameworks, offering stock-specific recommendations requires formal registration under statutory investment adviser and research analyst rules.
The academy maintained in its defence that its activities remained strictly instructional and that participant fees did not constitute income from unregistered advisory operations. SEBI dismissed these arguments, stating that real-time trading guidance and targeted recommendations went beyond the scope of general financial literacy. The regulator ordered Sathe and his institute to jointly execute the ₹546.18 crore refund within five months of receiving the directive. The accompanying ₹67.87 crore interest charge was calculated at 12 per cent per annum from October 10, 2025, up to the date of the final order. The two-year market ban against Sathe and his academy will remain in place until all refund obligations are met.
Misleading Claims and Regulatory Warnings
The regulator also highlighted deceptive promotional practices used to attract prospective participants. SEBI found that testimonials and promotional videos circulated by the academy and its founder featured profitable trades while withholding overall trading losses suffered by participants. These selective disclosures were judged to have created an inaccurate perception of trading success, influencing individuals to sign up for expensive courses.
The findings followed an administrative warning issued by SEBI on March 1, 2024, which had cautioned the academy and its founder against misrepresenting trading performance and publishing selective disclosures. SEBI found that despite the official warning, the academy continued its promotional practices unaltered.
Heavy Penalties Follow ₹601 Crore Collection
Investigations revealed that the academy and its founder had amassed a total of ₹601.37 crore from participants since its establishment. Alongside the refund and interest liabilities, the regulator levied individual penalties for the identified statutory violations. The academy was fined ₹6 crore, Avadhut Sathe was fined ₹4 crore, and Gouri Sathe was penalised ₹1.5 crore. The action highlights SEBI’s increased vigilance over trading educators and digital market influencers who cross the line into unlicensed financial advice.
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