Finfluencer PR Sundar breaks silence on Sebi settlement, says ‘people who believe you need no explanation’

A day after finfluencer PR Sundar settled his case with the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on its claims that Sundar was providing investment advisory services without the requisite registration, he reacted to the crackdown and said people who believe him and his policies, need no explanation. 

In a first-of-kind action against finfluencers (financial influencers), capital market regulator Sebi on May 25 issued an order to penalise renowned Youtuber and options trader PR Sundar from trading for a year over alleged violation of investment advisors norms. 

The Sebi, in its May 25 order, had named Sundar, his company Mansun Consulting and co-promoter of the company Mangayarkarasi Sundar, and asked them to pay a settlement amount; and to disgorge more than Rs 6 crore, which includes profit earned from the advisory services and interest on the profit. 

PR Sundar and Mangayarkarasi Sundar are promoters of Mansun, incorporated on June 30, 2017, with 50 per cent shareholding each. 

The Settlement Order recorded the settlement amount as Rs 15,60,000 had to be paid by each, adding to Rs 46,80,000 in total. The disgorgement amount was pegged at Rs 6,07,69,863, which included interest of 12 per cent per annum from June 1, 2020 till the date of submission of the revised settlement terms (RST), which was set in February 2023. 

On Saturday, Sundar, reacting to the whole incident, tweeted: "People who believe you, need no explanation. People who do not believe you, no amount of explanation will help. So keeping silence, at least for some time, is the best response." 

The Sebi, in its order, said there were two references alleging that Sundar and his company were providing advisory services without obtaining the necessary registration from the regulator. Multiple complaints received by the market regulator also claimed Sundar ran a website through which he offered various packages to provide investment advice. 

Sebi, upon investigation into the claims, found that Sundar offered the advisory services via his website www.prsundar.blogspot.com. The fees was collected in lieu of services and was received via a payment gateway linked to the bank account of Mansun Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. held with ICICI Bank Ltd, according to the settlement order. 

“The  website, http://www.prsundar.blogspot.com, had posts from August  27, 2013  onwards. It has a tab titled “Advisory” wherein the following is mentioned: ‘Advisory services – Daily calls on Telegram: We will be giving daily calls on what positions to take, adjustments, etc. on Telegram messaging app’. The website also provided a payment link including a Razorpay link,” read the Sebi order. 

The Chennai-based finfluencer has over a million followers on YouTube and hundreds of thousands on Twitter. As per reports, Sundar allegedly posted screenshots of only his profitable positions, deleted those when trades go against him. 

 The market regulator sent a showcause notice to all three entities on May 17, 2022, and a follow-up showcase notice with additional observations on November 8, 2022, following receipt of the tip and analysis. 

Crackdown on finfluencers 

In April, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed concerns related to financial influencers in India and warned of the dangers of Ponzi apps offering financial solutions. 

She said there is currently no proposal to regulate "fin-fluencers" a word of caution is essential. "If there are three or four people giving us very objective, good advice, there are seven others out of 10 who are probably driven by some other considerations," she said. 

Also read: ‘I am so offended’: Ashneer Grover reacts to being compared with Ankur Warikoo

Also read: Goafest 2023: 'Ad market will bounce back after August,' says BARC India chairman Shashi Sinha

Watch: IPL Decoded: Check business model, ROI, CSK & other teams' brand valuation and more