Epidemic of Stock Market Finfluencers

ALL STOCK MARKET boom cycles are magnets for wide-eyed newcomers looking to make a quick buck in the shortest possible time.

Manipulators know this very well. With the current boom extending longer than imagined, a host of uncertified self-proclaimed stock market Gurus, also called Finfluencers (financial influencers) because of their social media following, have mushroomed to tap into this investor curiosity.

Stock market regulator Sebi says nobody can act as investment adviser without its certification. But they disagree, exploiting a loophole: posing generically in public fora but providing stock-specific advice privately on WhatsApp groups and Telegram channels. Often charging exorbitantly for their services. Sebi says their acts are illegal, and has banned a few. But how do they continue?

Read about what my colleague Rajiv Ranjan Singh calls stock market's 'Twitter Babas and Telegram Tantriks'. Those who camouflage paid lessons as educational initiatives and believe their operations are beyond the current ambit of Sebi regulations.

Next, Cancer is practically an epidemic now. One in six deaths globally is consumed by cancer, resulting in 10 million deaths annually, says the World Health Organization (WHO). India ranks third after China and the U.S. on prevalence of cancer. But unlike the West where over 70% of cases are diagnosed in early stages, it's the reverse in India. About 70% of cases are identified only in advanced stages. This has stretched the demand-supply gap in India's cancer ecosystem – preventive care, early diagnosis and treatment. Therein lies an enormous opportunity in healthcare. Joe C. Mathew explains why cancer is the new cardiology for India's hospital chains.

In the energy sector, there is unbridled excitement in wind power after 6-7 years of debility. Production lines at wind equipment makers are buzzing all over again to fulfil a string of new orders. This is a revival of sorts after the sector that was adding 3-4GW capacity every year, fell to just 1.6GW per year in the past 5 years. It's a classic example of how vital policy changes can mar — and now make — an industry. P.B. Jayakumar and Nevin John examine how low wind capacity addition threatened India's goal to achieve 500GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, triggering the need for a new wave of reforms, perking up the industry.

The Special Issue this month is Fortune India’s annual package on India's Best Financiers — a deep, detailed study of the banking sector with our partners Grant Thornton Bharat. It captures a period of cracking growth in the midst of gloom in global banking; the welcome fall in non-performing assets; the revival of growth among small finance banks; the winners across seven categories and, of course, the understated brilliance of Kotak Mahindra Bank founder and MD & CEO Uday Kotak — the jury's choice for Financier Of The Year. Our gratitude to the illustrious Jury who took pains to examine the quantitative findings and contributed with invaluable qualitative assessment of this year's winners: Anand Sinha, former deputy governor, RBI; Anil K. Khandelwal, founder, Anugyan and former CMD, Bank of Baroda; Cyril Shroff, managing partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; Gayathri Parthasarathy, India financial services sector leader and global FS technology leader, PwC India; Ravindra Dholakia, director, RBI and former professor, IIM Ahmedabad, and Subhash Chandra Garg, former finance and economic affairs secretary, Government of India and chief policy advisor, Subhanjali.