“This is a great and proactive move. The nuisance of unregistered advisory has only gotten worse,” Kamath said in a tweet.
The market watchdog, on Wednesday, launched the ‘Verified App Label Initiative’, a move aimed at helping investors identify genuine trading and investment apps and avoid falling prey to scams.
This is another major step by Sebi to strengthen investor protection amid rising digital fraud.
Sebi, in collaboration with Google, initiated this to implement a first-of-its kind ‘Verified’ badge on Google Play, starting with all stock trading apps in India offered by entities registered with Sebi.
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Verified stock trading apps associated with Sebi registered entities will now display a ‘Verified’ label in the Google Play Store. Subsequently, the ‘Verified’ label will also be extended to apps of other regulated intermediaries.
Speaking at the launch, Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the initiative goes beyond a simple visual marker and is designed to reinforce trust and safety in an increasingly digital investment ecosystem. “This initiative is not just about a label on an app; it is about helping investors distinguish the genuine from the fake,” Pandey said, underlining the regulator’s focus on preventing fraud before it occurs.
“This initiative is not just about a label on an app; it is about helping investors distinguish the genuine from the fake,” Pandey said, underlining the regulator’s focus on preventing fraud before it occurs.
The Sebi chief urged investors to follow the ‘Pehle Pechaan Kare, Fir Nivesh Kare!’ tenet.
Sebi has escalated over 1.3 lakh instances of misleading investment-related content for takedown while flagging 66 fake trading apps, which have since been removed from app stores. It has also implemented an API-based framework to ensure only verified intermediaries can run advertisements.
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