Sanjiv Bhasin front-ran his own TV stock tips — SEBI barred him and impounded ₹11.37 crore

Sanjiv Bhasin was one of India's most familiar market pundits: a director of IIFL Securities from 2017 to 2022 and later its consultant, appearing on CNBC Awaaz, CNBC English, ET Now, ET Now Swadesh and Zee Business with specific buy and sell calls, target prices and time frames, his on-screen caption reading 'Director, IIFL'. In June 2025, SEBI's ex-parte interim order barred him and eleven other entities from the securities market and impounded ₹11.37 crore of gains.

The scheme inverted the role of a stock tipper. According to the order, accounts at broker RRB Master Securities — belonging to Venus Portfolios, Gemini Portfolios and HB Stockholdings, with Bhasin's associates Lalit Bhasin and Ashish Kapur among the enablers — took positions ahead of his broadcast recommendations, then squared off almost immediately after the calls aired and moved the price. SEBI's investigation covered January 2020 to June 2024 and logged 39,971 trades by the group.

SEBI's file shows the reach: an exclusive Times Group contract for his ET Now appearances from October 2023, trading views circulated to all IIFL clients through its 'Market Mantra' notes and Telegram channel — while Bhasin personally held no SEBI registration as an investment adviser or research analyst. The probe began with three complaints; search-and-seizure operations followed at linked premises in June 2024.

The interim order directs the noticees to deposit the impounded amount in fixed deposits with a lien marked to SEBI, bars RRB Master Securities from proprietary trading, and acts as a show-cause notice for a permanent ban, disgorgement with interest and penalties.

₹11.37 crore impounded jointly from 12 entities; all barred from securities dealing until further orders

His personal trading went through a friendly Delhi broker and holding-company accounts, keeping his name off the trades.

No wall separated his public recommendations from his own dealing, and he was never registered as an adviser despite advising millions.

Broadcasters promoted him using his IIFL title but never asked how he handled his own book, and IIFL's own platform amplified the same calls.

The pattern survived five years because each trade looked ordinary; only matching them against broadcast timestamps exposed it.

A trusted recommendation is itself market-moving information, and whoever controls its timing can harvest it. Firms that hand a pundit a microphone own the conflict of interest that comes with it.

The June 2025 order gave the noticees 21 days to file replies and threatened further proceedings, including a permanent ban and monetary penalties. CNBC-TV18 reported the regulator directed the impounded ₹11.37 crore into fixed deposits with a lien in SEBI's favour. Bhasin, whose views had run to lakhs of retail followers across Hindi and English channels, exited public commentary, and the case became the reference point for policing market pundits whose tips double as exit liquidity for their own trades.