Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath informed investors that he has never had any WhatsApp group where he shares “hand-picked” stocks as advertised by a group. The group claims to assist people in picking the right stocks and Nikhil Kamath said that “this is obviously not from me” as he urged people to use a little “common sense”.

“Scam alert, this is obviously not from me, I have never had or have any WhatsApp groups, nor do I give tips etc. Please report these… Also to all the brands who reach out, I don’t do paid promotions/collaborations/ads/paid speaking engagements of any kind. Please stop spamming, and everyone use a little common sense please,” he said along with an image of the fake advertisement.

What did the scam advertisement claim?

The scam advertisement showed that the WhatsApp group had details of stocks handpicked by Nikhil Kamath that would rise in April. The ad asked investors to join the WhatsApp group which would share their picks of reliable stocks every day as it said, “First 1,000 members get it for free.”

See Nikhil Kamath’s post here:

Earlier Nikhil Kamath advised fellow entrepreneurs in India to not open franchises of global brands in India but try to take Indian brands to the world.

He said, “To all my entrepreneur buddies, the future may be to take Indian brands global, not franchise global brands in India. The Indian narrative is getting cool globally, we have mystique, royalty, history, artisan, handmade, exotic, and so much more to sell.”

He added, “What was yesterday a garment manufactured in India called John, Peter and Louis something and marketed by western models, could be tom Subko, Hatti Kaapi, 11.11 etc sold in New York with the faces of Indian artisans who spent hours on each product individually.”

Union finance ministry may propose stricter measures to protect citizens from cyber fraud, it was reported. This comes after an increase in incidents of frauds, including the Bank of Baroda World app scam, the Times of India reported citing sources who “mentioned a recent inter-ministerial meeting focused on bolstering cybersecurity and tackling financial fraud”, it noted.

What was RBI’s action on Bank of Baroda World app?

In October 2023, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stopped Bank of Baroda from onboarding new customers on its mobile app ‘BoB World’ citing material supervisory concerns. The bank said in response that it had already carried out corrective measures to address the concerns.

“The Reserve Bank of India has, in exercise of its power, under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, directed Bank of Baroda to suspend, with immediate effect, any further onboarding of their customers onto the ‘bob World’ mobile application,” RBI said in a statement.

“Any further onboarding of customers of the bank on the ‘bob World’ application will be subject to rectification of the deficiencies observed and strengthening of the related processes by the bank to the satisfaction of RBI,” it added.

What report said on steps Finance Ministry could take?

The report claimed that Finance ministry could be in support of stricter Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures and due diligence by banks and financial institutions while onboarding new merchants. This applies to Business Correspondents (BCs) as they may be more vulnerable to security breaches, as per the report.

Additionally, the ministry’s proposal also stresses on the need for improved data security and data protection practices at the merchant and Business Correspondents level. The report claimed that the RBI may ask banks to review concentration of Business Correspondents in areas with a high incidence of cyber fraud.

Sakuma Exports rights issue 2024: The rights issue of Sakuma Exports Ltd will open on April 25 and will close on May 13. The rights issue record date is April 15 and the company will offer 78,984,298 equity shares at a price ₹25.3 per share. The issue size is ₹199.83 crores while the entitlement ratio is 33:98 which means 33 rights share for every 98 fully-paid equity shares held on the record date.

Sakuma Exports: What is rights issue?

In the rights issue, a company grants existing shareholders the right to buy new shares at a discount to the current trading price. The issue gives existing shareholders securities called rights while companies give shareholders a chance to increase their exposure to the stock at a discount price.

Sakuma Exports: What to expect?

The Board of Directors of the company declared rights issue of equity shares for the eligible shareholders and said in a stock exchange filing that “the issue of 7,89,84,298 equity shares of face value of Re. 1 each (Equity Shares) to Eligible Equity Shareholders aggregating up to Rs. 19983.03 lakhs in accordance with applicable laws, including the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018, as amended (SEBI ICDR Regulations).”

“The Board of Directors, in accordance with Regulations 30 and Regulation 42 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligation and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, as amended and Regulation 68 of the SEBI ICDR Regulations, at its meeting held today ie., April 8, 2024, has considered and approved April 15, 2024 as the record date for the purpose of determining the Eligible Equity Shareholders who are eligible to apply for the Rights Equity Shares, in the Issue (Record Date),” it added.