Giving paid stock tips on a Telegram channel without SEBI registration is illegal in India. Under Section 12(1) of the SEBI Act, 1992 read with Regulation 3(1) of the SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013, no person may act as an investment adviser for consideration unless registered with SEBI. The same applies to paid “buy/sell calls” from a research analyst who is not registered under the SEBI (Research Analysts) Regulations, 2014. Receiving or following a free tip is not itself an offence for the follower — the legal liability sits with the unregistered person who sells the advice.
Quick answer. Selling Telegram stock tips, “VIP calls” or guaranteed-return advisory without a SEBI Investment Adviser (IA) or Research Analyst (RA) number is illegal. SEBI can ban the operator, order refund of fees and impose penalty up to ₹1 crore under Section 15EB, with criminal prosecution up to 10 years under Section 24. Verify any adviser on sebi.gov.in before you pay.
An investment adviser is anyone who, for a fee, advises others on buying or selling securities or holds themselves out as an adviser. A research analyst is anyone who publishes “buy/sell/hold” recommendations for a fee. Both must hold a SEBI certificate of registration. A Telegram admin charging a “membership” for daily tips is doing exactly this — and is unregistered.
The governing framework is statutory, not advisory:
This is a securities-law matter, so the regulator is SEBI, not the RTI Act — but RTI is still useful to track a police complaint's progress (see below). For who-regulates-what, see Which regulator to complain to — SEBI, RBI, IRDAI hub.
Illegal:
Not an offence for the follower:
So a Telegram tip-seller is exposed to a market ban, full refund of fees, a money penalty up to ₹1 crore under Section 15EB or 15HB, and criminal prosecution up to 10 years under Section 24.
In August 2024, SEBI notified amendments — including the SEBI (Intermediaries) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024 — barring SEBI-regulated entities (brokers, mutual funds, registered advisers) from any direct or indirect association with unregistered finfluencers, including referrals, fee-sharing or shared tech systems. SEBI's FAQs of 29 January 2025 drew the line between education and advice: a pure educator may not use security price data from the last three months or give buy/sell calls. The effect is that a Telegram channel selling “calls” cannot lawfully be promoted by, or partner with, any registered intermediary.
These are actual, published SEBI enforcement orders — not hypotheticals:
Both confirm the rule: the regulator pursues the seller of unregistered advice, claws back the fees, and bans them.
These siblings cover *recovery*; this page answers the prior question — *is it legal at all?* The answer is no for the seller.
SEBI handles the securities-law side, but if you have lodged a cyber-crime FIR, you can use the Right to Information Act, 2005 to ask the police PIO for the investigation status. Under Section 6(1) you request the information; under Section 7(1) the public authority must reply within 30 days; if it does not, Section 19(1) gives you a first appeal. Draft one in minutes with the AI RTI Drafter, speak it in your language with AwaazRTI (voice), and if the reply is evasive, run it through the PIO Reply Checker and escalate with the First Appeal Builder. For the statute itself, see the RTI Act, 2005 index and the The RTI Playbook.
Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak, Nagpur — ₹1.4 lakh in “VIP calls”. In March 2026, Dr. Pathak joined a Telegram channel branding itself “SEBI Certified Nifty Pros” and paid ₹1.4 lakh over two months for “VIP intraday calls” promising 25% monthly returns. Before paying a renewal, he searched the operator's name on sebi.gov.in → Investment Advisers and found no INA registration — and an existing SEBI enforcement entry. He stopped paying, filed on SCORES 2.0 citing Regulation 3(1) of the IA Regulations 2013, and lodged a cyber-crime FIR. His SCORES complaint was acknowledged within the 21-day window; he then filed an RTI to the cyber cell PIO to track the FIR. The channel was unregistered — its operator faced action under Sections 15EB and 24 of the SEBI Act.
Genuinely free, general market education is not advisory if the person takes no fee and does not hold themselves out as an adviser. The moment money changes hands for tips, or the person claims to be an adviser, Regulation 3(1) of the SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013 requires SEBI registration. SEBI's January 2025 FAQs also bar even “educators” from using the last three months of price data to disguise calls as education.
No. Following a tip is not an offence for you, and you can act on any information you choose. The legal liability falls on the unregistered person who sold the advice. But you carry your own trading losses, and if the tip is part of a pump-and-dump you may be buying exactly what the operator is dumping.
SEBI can ban the operator from the securities market, order refund (disgorgement) of all fees with interest, and impose a penalty up to ₹1 crore under Section 15EB of the SEBI Act. Criminal prosecution under Section 24 carries imprisonment up to 10 years or a fine up to ₹25 crore, or both.
Search the adviser's name, firm or number on sebi.gov.in under Intermediaries → Investment Advisers. A valid IA shows an INA number; a research analyst shows an INH number. If there is no number, or it is expired, the person is not authorised to give paid advice. SEBI does not “approve” or “certify” any Telegram channel.
No. SEBI's code of conduct and advertisement code for registered investment advisers prohibit any assured, guaranteed or fixed-return promise, because market returns cannot be guaranteed. Any channel offering “guaranteed 25% monthly” is both unlawful and a classic fraud indicator.
From August 2024, SEBI-regulated entities (brokers, mutual funds, registered advisers) cannot associate with, pay, refer to or share systems with unregistered finfluencers. SEBI's 29 January 2025 FAQs separated education from advice and barred educators from using the last three months of price data. This cut off the marketing oxygen that unregistered tip channels relied on.
SEBI does not pay you directly, but it can order the operator to disgorge the fees collected — as in the Baap of Chart order (₹17.2 crore) and the Ravindra Bharti order (₹9.49 crore). Recovered money is routed through SEBI's investor protection mechanism; you may also pursue a bank chargeback or a civil claim. File on SCORES 2.0 to start the process.
Yes. Beyond the registration breach, hyping an illiquid stock to a crowd and selling into their buying is a manipulative scheme prohibited by Regulations 3 and 4 of the PFUTP Regulations, 2003, attracting separate penalties and criminal liability under Section 24.
Both, for different things. Complain to SEBI on SCORES 2.0 for the securities-law violation (unregistered advisory). File a cyber-crime FIR and dial 1930 if money was defrauded. Use the regulator hub to confirm the right forum.