SEBI has barred four entities from participating in the securities markets for a period of six months due to providing investment advisory services without obtaining the necessary authorization. The entities that are banned by the regulatory are Shashank Hirwani and Course Work Focus, Gopal Gupta and Capital Research, as well as Rahul Patel and Capres. SEBI has also instructed these entities to refund any funds collected from investors through their unregistered investment advisory services within a period of three months.

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SEBI has issued two distinct orders, noting that these entities provided investment advice to clients and received payments without obtaining the necessary registration from the regulatory. SEBI’s investigation revealed that Course Work Focus and Hirwani received a total of over Rs. 96 lakh from investors between March 2018 and July 2020. Between June 2014 and November 2019, Capital Research, Gupta, and Patel provided unregistered investment advisory services and received a total of Rs 60.84 lakh in payments.

According to SEBI’s final order passed on Wednesday, these entities violated the provisions of the investment adviser (IA) norms by engaging in such activities.

SEBI has directed the entities to refund the fees collected from their clients or investors for providing unregistered investment advisory services within a period of three months.

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Furthermore, these entities have been banned from directly or indirectly accessing or dealing in the securities market for six months, or until six months after the completion of refunds to investors, whichever is later. SEBI initiated an investigation into the alleged unregistered investment advisory activities of Capital Research, Capres, and Course Work Focus after receiving complaints against them. The orders were issued based on the findings of SEBI’s investigation.