Avadhut Sathe Trading Academy (ASTA) will challenge the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) order against it, arguing that it has operated solely as a financial-market training institution and that the regulatory framework does not clearly define educational activities.
Advocate Vijay Sardana, who represented ASTA in its hearings before SEBI, said the academy used live market data only towards the end of its courses to demonstrate how students could apply the concepts they had learnt. Such demonstrations accounted for approximately 3-4 percent of total programme hours, he said.
“ASTA’s position is that it has always operated solely as a training academy. None of its social media handles or channels are monetised. The social media handles were created for continuous learning,” Sardana said.
ASTA said students were first taught technical analysis, decision-making frameworks and risk management rules before being shown how these concepts worked during live markets.
“ASTA is committed to educational activities only and has never provided investment advisory or brokerage services, managed portfolios, or sold software or apps,” Sardana said.