The financially popular influencer dubbed herself the “She-Wolf of the stock market” in reference to the Hollywood movie The Wolf of Wall Street. As of the last count, she had hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers and over half a million YouTube subscribers. Her stock trading classes cost thousands of rupees in fees.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which oversees the market, threw a wrench in the works last month. She and six other people were prohibited from trading because it was alleged that she was making millions of rupees by offering illicit stock advice under the cover of investor education.
Patel’s action is the latest attempt by the regulator to tighten the noose around social media influencers who offer trading advice and quick money schemes under the pretext of education.
A surge of new mom-and-pop investors was drawn to India by the post-pandemic market boom. According to data from the brokerage Zerodha, the number of online trading accounts increased from just 36 million in 2019 to over 150 million last year.
A new generation of self-styled “investment gurus” or “financial influencers” like Ms. Patel emerged as a result of the reliance of many of these new market entrants on social media for trading advice and the promise of rapid money.
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