A study by the CFA Institute, titled "Clicks and Credibility 2.0" and covered by Business Standard on 30 July 2026, has found that only 6.3% of the 48 finfluencers it studied were registered with SEBI is the statutory regulator of India's securities market, with the legal duty to protect investors and to promote and regulate that market. Read the full meaning of SEBI, while 33.3% of them were giving explicit stock recommendations. For investors who want to check if a finfluencer is SEBI registered, these two figures show how wide the gap can be between the people giving stock calls and the people who hold a registration.
Put in simple terms, around one in three of the finfluencers in the study was telling followers which stocks to act on, and less than one in fifteen was registered with the regulator. Many individuals following such calls on social media videos, reels and posts may be assuming that the person speaking is registered, although the study does not say what the followers assumed.
The sample is small. A study of 48 finfluencers cannot describe every person who talks about markets online, and the percentages describe this group and no other. However, the report has been taken up widely because the gap is visible even in a limited sample.
Stock calls do not reach investors only through public posts. As per the Business Standard report, seminars, webinars, workshops and closed messaging groups are the common places where investors are asked to join, and in many cases they are asked to pay. In these settings, the person leading the session often presents himself as a teacher or a market expert, and the question of registration may not come up at all.
The report says that before joining any of these, an investor can ask whether the person is a SEBI-registered investment adviser or research analyst. The investor can also ask for the registered name and the registration number.
A registration number can be matched with a public record, while a claim made in a video or in a group description has no such record to be matched with. The sections below describe how SEBI treats such activity and how the public record is being used.
SEBI looks at activity, not the title
SEBI has not created a separate legal category for finfluencers. A person who posts about markets on Instagram or YouTube is not treated as a finfluencer under any specific rule, and regulator looks at what the person is actually doing.
If the activity falls within the definition of research analyst services or investment advices, the rules for those registered categories will apply, whatever label the person uses for himself. Calling oneself a content creator, a mentor or an educator does not change this.
Under SEBI's regulations, target prices, model portfolios and advice tailored to a person's income, goals or risk profile can trigger the research analyst or investment adviser rules. Many videos and group messages contain exactly these items, and individuals following them often do not know that such content may require a registration.
The order against Avadhut Sathe shows how this is applied. In December 2025, SEBI took action against him and impounded Rs 546 crore. SEBI's interim order found, on a prima facie basis, that his trading academy was giving unregistered advisory and research services under the cover of education.
The academy was presented as a place for learning, and the finding was based on the services being provided to the students. A course or workshop name did not decide the matter. For the families which had joined such programmes, the order has become a reference point when they look at similar offers.
There is also a qualification requirement for those who do seek registration. The revised Series XV research analyst certification exam of NISM took effect on 20 January 2026, and applicants for research analyst registration must pass it. This means that a registered research analyst has cleared a defined examination, which is a different position from person who has only built a large following.
Because the regulator looks at conduct, the question for an investor becomes whether the person offering stock calls, model portfolios or personal advices holds a registration for that work. A large number of followers, a professional looking channel or a course on trading does not answer that question.
The registration is recorded on a public database and the entries there can be matched with the name, brand and payment details of the person who is offering the service.
How investors are checking a name on SEBI's database
Careful investors are now using the public intermediary lookup on SEBI's website, at siportal.sebi.gov.in/intermediary/sebi-check, which lists the registered research analysts. Research analyst registration numbers usually start with "INH", so the investors search for that number and see whether an entry is actually found.
If a fee is being asked for in the name of some other firm or an individual account, the entry does not fit the seller. Impersonation of genuine analysts happens, so a correct number given by a wrong person can still appear in a video or a group description. A separate enlistment number is also available, and investors treat it as a second layer of confirmation.
"SEBI-compliant" and "SEBI-registered" are different claims, and the second one can be verified only on SEBI's portal. A logo, a certificate image or a social media bio is not accepted by the investors as proof of registration.
Some content that investors are marking as suspicious includes:
- screenshots of returns that cannot be verified
- claims of guaranteed profits
- tips given by a person who does not appear on the database
Such content can be reported on SEBI's SCORES portal with the screenshots as evidence.
In practice, many investors are carrying out the check before making any payment, and some of them are maintaining a record of the details they find. If the details are changed at a later stage, there will be an earlier record available for comparison.
Some families are also asking the person to share the registration number during the live session or in the group, and the number is then searched on the database while the session is still going on. Person who holds a registration will usually share the registered name and number without any difficulty.
Alongside this, investors are also reading the exact wording of the claims made by the seller. A statement like "our methods follow SEBI guidelines" is being treated by the investors as the seller's own description of his approach, while a registration entry is a record maintained by the regulator. A logo placed on a thumbnail or a certificate shown in a video is also not linked with any entry on the database, and the investors are searching the name separately.
Where the name on the database and the name of the seller are not the same, many investors are deciding to stop at that stage and are not going ahead with the next step of the offer.
What registration does and does not settle
A registered research analyst has certain disclosure duties, and investors which read the reports are able to see them. The analyst must disclose any financial interest in the subject company, holdings of 1% or more, compensation received from the company and other conflicts of interest. These details are given either in each report or as a standing disclosure on the analyst's website.
Registration also does not guarantee that a recommendation will be accurate or will perform. A research analyst cannot promise assured or guaranteed profits, and a claim of this kind from a registered person is itself a breach of the rules.
Regulator has also tightened the links between registered firms and unregistered finfluencers. In October 2024, SEBI first restricted such associations. Its circular of 29 January 2025 bars registered market entities from associating with unregistered finfluencers in any way involving monetary or non monetary compensation. Entities that do not follow the circular risk penalties, suspension or cancellation of their licence.
For the investors, this means that a brokerage or an advisory firm promoting an unregistered influencer is itself exposed to action and the influencer's reach on a registered firm's platform is no longer a sign of approval.
The question of returns is being handled separately. In December 2025, SEBI launched the Past Risk and Return Verification Agency (PaRRVA), with the aim of making performance claims credible. SEBI chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey warned at the time that finfluencers and unregistered entities often lure investors with exaggerated or fabricated returns. Investors who see a claim of past profits are now looking for whether it has been verified by an agency, and not only whether it is shown in a screenshot.
Investors who come across such content are also making use of the complaint route. SEBI's SCORES portal, at scores.sebi.gov.in, accepts complaints about suspicious posts, and screenshots of the post or the group message can be attached as evidence.
A registration entry on the database confirms that the person has the status of a research analyst and that the disclosure duties apply to him. It does not confirm that a particular stock call is correct, and it does not confirm any return. Even a registered analyst cannot promise assured profits.
