Unauthorised investment advisory services: Sebi bans 4 for six months

Sebi has barred four entities from the securities markets for six months for providing unauthorised investment advisory services and directed them to refund investors' money collected through such services within three months.

Those restrained by Sebi are -- Course Work Focus, its proprietor Shashank Hirwani; Capital Research, its proprietor Gopal Gupta; and Rahul Patel who is the proprietor of Capres.

In two separate orders, Sebi found that these entities were engaged in the business of providing investment advice to their clients, for consideration, without obtaining Sebi's registration.

According to Sebi, Course Work Focus and Hirwani collectively received over Rs 96 lakh from investors during March 2018 to July 2020 and Capital Research, Gupta and Patel together collected Rs 60.84 lakh between June 2014 and November 2019 by providing such unregistered investment advisory services.

Through such acts, they violated the provisions of investment adviser (IA) norms, the Securities