SK Sales, Partners Banned for 2 years, SEBI Slaps Rs6 Lakh Fine for Running Illegal Investment Advisory
Moneylife Digital Team 29 December 2023
Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has debarred SK Sales and its partners, Sandeep Subhashbhai Borse and Kalyani Sandeep Borse (noticees), for two years. SK Sales and its partners have also been penalised Rs6 lakh for providing advisory services illegally. The illegal advisory is also asked to refund Rs3.02 crore collected as the fee from its investor clients.
 
In an order, Dr Anitha Anoop, chief general manager (CGM) of SEBI, says, "I note that the activities of the noticees show that they were acting as investment advisers without holding a valid registration with SEBI. I find that these activities were being carried out by the noticees without obtaining the necessary certificate of registration as investment advisers and therefore, the noticees have violated Section 12(1) of the SEBI Act along with Regulation 3 (1) of the IA Regulations".
 
SEBI received a complaint against stockkhoj.com, the website of SK Sales. The complainant alleged that he had availed of investment advisory services on the website and paid Rs40,000 as registration charges. It was mentioned that when the details of the registration certificate were sought consequent to the payment of the said charges, the details were not provided by Stockkhoj.
 
Further, SEBI revealed that neither Stockkhoj nor SK Sales are registered with SEBI in any capacity. However, Mr Borse, one of the partners in SK Sales, is registered with SEBI as an investment adviser (IA).
 
The regulator found that stockkhoj.com provides 'trading tips'  to investors with intense analysis done by their team of analysts. The noticee offered stock tips on equity, commodity and index as well. They have over 2,200 clients. The website stated the products' pricing based on the subscription duration, which ranged from Rs29,000 per month to Rs2.65 lakh per year.
 
The CGM of SEBI further mentioned that the bank account details provided by Easebuzz, the account opening form (AOF), your customer (KYC) details, and the bank account statements were sought from HDFC Bank and other banks. From the documents on record, I note that SK Sales had its account with HDFC Bank as well as with ICICI Bank, Dr Anoop says.
 
SEBI has ordered SK Sales and its Partners to refund the amount collected as fees for investment advisory from various people within three months.
 
SK Sales and its Partners are restrained from selling their assets and properties and holding mutual funds, shares, and securities in demat and physical form except for the sole purpose of making the refunds.
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