Updated 20 September 2023 at 16:56 IST
Ravisutanjani Kumar's unmasking and finfluencer bubble in India
This incident of Ravisutanjani Kumar highlights the concern of fakery in the finfluencer world. That is why SEBI is increasing its scrutiny on such people.
New Delhi: The warning bells were struck long ago. Ever since financial influencers or 'finfluencers' started taking over social media by providing investment advice and financial lessons to the general public free of cost, there has been a buzz of a possible regulatory crackdown on them.
In August 2023, the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) proposed that stockbrokers and mutual funds should disassociate themselves from unregistered financial influencers. In short, the market watchdog recommended that brokerage applications such as Zerodha, Groww etc, and mutual funds should stop providing advertisements and payments for promotion to these finfluencers.
Who is Ravisutanjani Kumar?
Ravisutanjani Kumar is a finfluencer who has now gone incognito after an X (formerly Twitter) user(s) named Fraud Disposal Squad (@SatarkAadmi) made some sensational revelations about him. Kumar has deactivated/deleted his social media accounts following the exposure. In an explosive thread of posts on X, an account with the handle 'SatarkAadmi' raised several questions about Ravisutanjani Kumar's education and career background. Kumar had claimed that he studied Computer Engineering at IIIT Allahabad, PGP in Business at Management Development Institute, Gurgaon and Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at HEC Paris.
In the exposure, 'SatarkAadmi' pointed out that IIIT Allahabad offers BTech only in ECE and IT branches, and that Kumar's name doesn't feature in any of convocation programmes held between 2015 to 2022. The X user also said that the MDI Alumni who attended similar courses between 2016 to 2021 denied his presence in any of those batches.
'SatarkAadmi' produced a certificate belonging to Ravisutanjani Kumar which says he graduated as a Wireman from Government ITI, Mirzapur. It further revealed discrepancies including Kumar's claims of working with Zomato, being invited from Indian Army.
Ravisutanjani Kumar is a name that became popular a little too fast. Even the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, shared one of Kumar's tweets supporting the Unified Payment Interface (UPI).
"I like how you’ve brought out the rising popularity of UPI. I laud my fellow Indians for embracing digital payments! They’ve shown remarkable adaptability to tech and innovation," wrote Prime Minister Modi while sharing one of Kumar's posts on X.
Kumar charged a fee between Rs 251 and Rs 24,499 for consultation on Topmate.
Ravisutanjani Kumar has now gone incognito on social media. Efforts made by Republic World to reach out to him for a comment have not yielded any response.
Not an isolated incident
Money and health are two areas where people get defrauded the most. Just like there exist quacks pretending to be qualified health professionals, there are people disguised as experts in financial matters. They could have their own ulterior motives in giving financial tips to the layman. We see a lot of channels on platforms such as Telegram that provide tips for intraday trading, futures & options, stock advises etc. We also see people on Instagram, YouTube and other platforms giving investment advice, financial tips etc to the general public. While all (or most) of them give a disclaimer that they're not SEBI registered analysts, viewers' attention would generally be glued at ways to make money rather than this disclaimer.
This incident of Ravisutanjani Kumar highlights the concern of fakery in the finfluencer world. While a lot of them are indeed knowledgeable people, it's very difficult to figure out the real and fake ones. That is why SEBI is increasing its scrutiny on people giving financial advice.
"Not being formally subject to a financial sector regulator's code of conduct, they may not disclose any potential conflict of interest such as their association with or interest in the products, services or securities that they promote," SEBI said.
Earlier this year, Reuters had cited sources and reported that Sebi would direct brokers and funds to limit the use of financial influencers. According to the report, registered financial influencers would need to follow a code of conduct and guidelines issued by Sebi and exchanges while talking about financial products or stocks on social media platforms. It added that brokers and mutual funds should actively disassociate themselves from unregistered entities who may be using their products or logos.
Published By : Sankunni K
Published On: 19 September 2023 at 18:37 IST