SEBI said Basant Maheshwari had been providing link to his smallcase website in the description of his YouTube channels with the statement “Invest in our smallcase”. Thus, he was influencing investors, it said. 
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SEBI said Basant Maheshwari had been providing link to his smallcase website in the description of his YouTube channels with the statement “Invest in our smallcase”. Thus, he was influencing investors, it said. Basant Maheshwari Wealth Advisers LLP has been slapped with a fine of Rs 4 lakh by the market regulator SEBI for allegedly violating norms regarding fees and exaggerated captions of YouTube videos. The investment advisor has been asked to pay the penalty within 45 days of receipt of the order.
SEBI noted that Basant Maheshwari Wealth Advisers was levying fees on 32 clients under both fixed and assets under advise mode. Under general conditions, investment advisors charge fees from a client under any one mode on an annual basis. The change of mode is effected only after 12 months of on boarding or last change of mode.
SEBI said Basant Maheshwari Wealth Advisers charged fees from the same client using both the modes, which is a violation of the Regulation 15A of SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations.
Besides, SEBI alleged some of YouTube videos published by the Basant Maheshwari Wealth Advisers with exaggerated captions and in non compliance with advertisement code. It gave examples of captions "100x Portfolio – 3 Saal Mei? Kaise Kiya?", 10 "Saal Mei 10 Guna Aur 20 Saal Me 100 Guna!! Kaise Kare??", "कै सेबनाया ₹50 Lakh से₹10 crore ?", "1 Crore Ko Double Kaise Kare?? Explained in 2 Minutes" and Kaise Banaya ₹ 150 crores Sirf Trading kar ke?.
Basant Maheshwari Wealth Advisers insisted that the notice blindly cherry-picked the title of the videos to affix liability, while failing to appreciate that the actual message and import behind the videos are aimed at educating viewers.
SEBI said: "The disclaimer was not clearly brought out in the description as it has been uploaded through a pdf link on the description. Additionally, videos uploaded by Mr. Basant did not provide the disclaimer in the description box of each of his YouTube videos," SEBI said.
"It was further observed by SEBI that Mr. Basant Maheshwari had been providing link to his smallcase website in the description of his YouTube channels with the statement “Invest in our smallcase”. Thus, he was influencing investors and thereby the YouTube videos were advertisements issued by Mr. Basant Maheshwari," SEBI said.
SEBI said the inspection was carried out on December 29, 2023 by a team comprising of SEBI and BASL officials. The period of inspection was October 19, 2023 to December 31, 2023. Subsequently, post inspection analysis was carried out by SEBI.
After taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the case, material available on record, submissions made by the noticee, SEBI announced Rs 4 lakh fine, saying the noticee needs to pay the said amount of penalty within 45 days of receipt of the order through online payment facility available on the website of SEBI.
"In the event of failure to pay the said amount of penalty within 45 days of the receipt of this Order, SEBI may initiate consequential actions including but not limited to recovery proceedings under section 28A of the SEBI Act for realization of the said amount of penalty along with interest thereon, inter alia, by attachment and sale of movable and immovable properties," SEBI said.
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