The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Advertising Standards Council of India, and Parliamentary Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs have all received a joint representation from the New Indian Consumer Initiative (NICI) and a group of prominent consumer interest organizations regarding the ban on opinion trading platforms in India. The representation claims that these platforms provide pure play betting activities that deceive customers with false advertising, tempting them to engage in unlawful and unauthorized actions and putting them at risk financially and psychologically.
The representation’s signatories, which include Prof. Dr. Duraisingam, Chairman, Consumer Research, Education, Action, Training & Empowerment (CREATE), and Ramjibai Mavani, a former member of parliament and the founder of Rajkot Jilla Grahak Suraksha Mandal, emphasize the harm that these betting platforms cause to consumers, particularly because of deceptive advertising that portrays these opinion trading platforms as investment platforms
Abhishek Kumar, Convenor, NICI, “Through this joint representation, we urge the government to prohibit opinion trading in India and take decisive action, including issuing interim instructions to avoid consumer harm, banning digital and social media advertisements, prohibiting app stores, cloud service providers, and payment gateways from supporting these platforms. We also urge the Central Consumer Protection Authorities to investigate misleading claims and for law enforcement agencies to freeze assets linked to these platforms.”
Opinion trading systems, which resemble financial markets but are essentially gambling and betting platforms, let users place bets on the results of actual events. They pose as skill-based games or an investment platform, and they have over five crore Indian users with an estimated yearly trading volume of over ₹50,000 crore. However, these platforms are primarily chance-based because to the binary character of these wagers, which raises questions regarding their legality under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which forbids gambling and unlicensed betting.
A major issue is the misleading advertising used by these platforms, often implying regulatory oversight and using financial terms like “Auto Profits” and “Stop Loss” to create an illusion of structured investments. Many advertisements, including influencer promotions, falsely portray earnings as risk-free, potentially violating ASCI and CCPA guidelines on misleading promotions.
Beyond financial losses, these platforms can negatively impact users’ well-being, leading to stress, compulsive behavior, and normalization of gambling culture—particularly among economically vulnerable groups. With several countries now enforcing strict regulations/prohibitions on opinion trading, the coalition requests ministries to act swiftly to safeguard consumer rights, particularly the right to be informed, heard, educated, and protected.
Signatories:
Mr. Abhishek Kumar, Convenor, NICI; Prof. (Dr.) Duraisingham, Chairman, CREATE; Ms. Poonam Sharma, President, Rashtriya Samuddeshya Vikas Sansthan; Mr. R D Usmani, Director, IITED; Mr. Rakesh Parmar, President, Samajik Vikas Sansthan, Dholpur; Mr. RamjiBhai B. Mavani, Ex-MP and President, Rajkot Saher Jilla Grahak Suraksha Mandal; Dr. R Ramesh, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu Consumer Protection and Environment Research Centre; Mr. Rijit Sengupta, CEO, Centre for Responsible Business; Dr. Shipra Mathur, Founder, PEN Media Literacy; Adv. (Mr.) Surendran PA, Advocacy Coordinator, Consumer Association, Palakkad.
