The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on May 25 issued an order against the company Mansun Consulting and its promoters, PR Sundar and Mangayarkarasi Sundar, for providing investment advice without obtaining the necessary registrations from SEBI. PR Sundar is a trader and financial influencer (finfluencer) with over a million followers on YouTube and a large following on Twitter and Telegram as well. As part of the settlement order, Mansun Consulting, PR Sundar, and Mangayarkarasi Sundar will pay a penalty of over ₹6 crores and are barred from trading in the stock markets for a year. Why does this matter: The number of finfluencers has mushroomed in the last few years, and in some cases, these influencers peddle bad financial advice due to a lack of expertise, harming those at the receiving end. SEBI's order is a strong signal to financial influencers that they don't have a free pass and will be held liable for their actions. Earlier in March, the stock market regulator also cracked down on a YouTube pump-and-dump scheme where financial influencers manipulated share prices to their advantage. What services did Sundar offer that was deemed illegal? SEBI explained that Sundar had a tab titled "Advisory" on his website www.prsundar.blogspot.com, that had the description "Advisory services - Daily calls on Telegram: We will be giving daily calls on what positions to take, adjustments, etc. on the Telegram messaging app." Upon examining the recommendations Sundar disseminated to his followers, SEBI concluded that they fall under the definition…
