New Delhi, Nov 27 : The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Thursday urged deeper financial awareness, saying misinformation, fraudulent trading apps and online persuasion are increasingly influencing household financial choices.

He stressed that the surge in investor participation and growing digital risks make financial awareness in investors more important. Pandey said that investment decisions increasingly begin with forwarded messages, viral videos or social media recommendations and â??these moments may appear harmless, yet they influence financial choices that can reshape household savings, expectations, and financial stability.â??

Pandey cited SEBIâ??s 'Investor Survey 2025', showing a gap between awareness and participation -- 63 per cent of households know about market products but only 9.5 per cent invest, with rural participation at 6 per cent.

Meanwhile, unique investors skyrocketed to 13.6 crore as of October 2025, up from less than 4 crore in fiscal 2019, while mutual fund investors climbed from 1 crore to 5.6 crore over a decade, and monthly systematic investment plan flows climbed from rupees 3,000 crore in 2016 to over rupees 29,000 crore.

SEBI has escalated over one lakh cases of misleading online content to platforms such as Meta, Google, Telegram and X in the last 18 months. To combat scams and curb unregistered advisers, SEBI has introduced multiple safety features, like a Validated UPI handle framework to ensure payments only to verified intermediaries.

To combat scams, the regulator has also rolled out SEBI Check for bank account verification, an account freeze option for investors, 'Spot a Scam tool' to help users detect fraudulent schemes and a nationwide SEBI versus SCAM awareness campaign.

Pandey also highlighted structural reforms, including direct payout mechanisms, an ASBAâ??like blocked amount system for secondary markets, a secure Demat Debit Pledge framework replacing the power of attorney.

Other measures include Digilocker integration to safely store demat and mutual fund holdings, simplified nomination and claims processes for digital assets.

/IANS