Avadhut Sathe’s trading empire faces Sebi raid amid allegations of stock tips under investor education guise

Sathe’s rise as a popular finfluencer, since he began dabbling in the markets in 1991, has been phenomenal — from growing up in a chawl in Dadar, central Mumbai, to reportedly owning stocks worth hundreds of crores today. After earning an engineering degree, he moved overseas for work and has been employed in the US, Singapore, and Australia.

After finding success in investing and trading, he quit his job and decided to train students full-time from 2008. That is how the Avadhut Sathe Training Academy (ASTA) in Karjat was established, where participants can enrol in a three-month gurukul mentorship programme with graduation certificates. In fact, Sathe has built a sprawling training empire blending trading, spirituality, and salesmanship.

He set up the academy in 2008 with one location. Today, it has 17 branches across the nation, from Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru to smaller cities like Bhubaneswar, Kochi, and Nagpur, and offers training in English, Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, and Telugu. Online classes are also offered for international students, and he claims to have students from the UAE and even the US.

The academy has a dedicated social media following, and his YouTube channel boasts nearly 1 million subscribers, while the Instagram account has more than 2,37,000 followers. A three-month residential training costs between ₹21,000 and ₹1.7 lakh.

According to the ASTA website, Avadhut is “a man with a compelling vision of achieving financial independence for every class of people, and a successful trader with over three decades of trading and investing experience.”

Sathe became a viral sensation in 2023 when he was seen dancing in a large hall at his Pune academy in front of a screen flashing with live tickers. Though many joked about his unusual teaching method, his students joined in on the celebrations.