SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey Photo credit: PTI/SHASHANK PARADE
Speak with YEARS, Pandey said, “We have removed over 120,000 such contents from social media where we found blatant behavior against our norms.” He reiterated that SEBI regulations clearly state that investment advice should be provided only by registered entities.
While recognizing freedom of expression and right to financial education, the SEBI chief drew a clear distinction between education and misleading advice. “People have every right to express themselves and receive financial education as part of their fundamental right to freedom of expression. Only if you cross that line and actually mislead investors will we intervene, seek takedown and have the content removed,” he said.
Pandey said SEBI has the authority to direct the removal of such content and social media platforms are cooperating. “We have the power to order removal, and the platforms are cooperating with us,” he stated.
To strengthen supervision, SEBI has deployed an internal AI tool. “We are armed with our own AI tool called ‘Sudarshan’, which allows us to monitor audio, video and other content on a multilingual basis to identify where violations are taking place,” he said.
On the broader issue of retail participation in the derivatives markets, Pandey noted the impact of social media narratives following the COVID-19 crisis. Referring to options trading, he said many retail investors have been “heavily influenced by influencers following the COVID-19 crisis, possibly due to misleading claims that there is a lot of money to be made.” SEBI responded, he said, with data-driven measures and warnings from investors.
“Our data showed, and we have made it public, that collectively there have been significant losses. We have also introduced a regulatory warning, like the one for cigarettes, which states that when you trade options, nine out of 10 investors lose money. That is the warning we are giving you. A pop-up message will appear,” he added.
Terming market regulation as a calibrated exercise, Pandey underlined that SEBI’s approach is not heavy-handed. “Market development is not about a sledgehammer approach, but more like a surgeon’s knife: identifying problem areas and addressing them,” he said. The SEBI chairman described the past year as “a year of reforms”, asserting that the regulator remains focused on achieving optimal regulation – neither over-regulation of the market nor under-regulation of it.
Published on March 2, 2026
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