Consumer advocacy groups demand ban on opinion trading platforms in India

The New Indian Consumer Initiative (NICI) and a coalition of leading consumer interest organizations have submitted a joint representation to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Advertising Standards Council of India, and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs, urging a ban on Opinion Trading platforms in India.

According to the representation, these platforms operate as pure betting services that mislead consumers through deceptive advertising, enticing them to engage in illegal and unauthorized activities while exposing them to financial and psychological risks.

The signatories of the representation, including Ramjibai Mavani, Former Member of Parliament and Founder of Rajkot Jilla Grahak Suraksha Mandal, and Prof. Dr. Duraisingam, Chairman of Consumer Research, Education, Action, Training & Empowerment (CREATE), highlight the significant consumer harm posed by these betting platforms, particularly due to misleading advertisements that portray Opinion Trading Platforms as investment opportunities.

Abhishek Kumar, Convenor of NICI, stated, “Through this joint representation, we urge the government to prohibit opinion trading in India and take decisive action, including issuing interim measures to prevent consumer harm, banning digital and social media advertisements, and 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 call on law enforcement agencies to freeze assets linked to these platforms."

According to NICI, Opinion trading platforms allow users to wager money on real-world event outcomes, mimicking financial markets while fundamentally operating as gambling and betting services. With an estimated trading volume exceeding ₹50,000 crore annually and more than five crore Indian users, these platforms misrepresent themselves as skill-based games or investment platforms. However, the binary nature of these wagers makes them predominantly chance-based, raising concerns about their legality under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which prohibits unauthorized betting and gambling.

The representation further raised a major concern on the misleading advertising used by these platforms, which often implies regulatory oversight and employs financial terms like “Auto Profits” and “Stop Loss” to create the illusion of structured investments. Many advertisements, including influencer promotions, falsely portray earnings as risk-free, potentially violating ASCI and CCPA guidelines on deceptive promotions. Beyond financial losses, these platforms can harm users' well-being, leading to stress, compulsive behavior, and the normalization of gambling culture—especially among economically vulnerable groups.

With several countries now enforcing strict regulations or outright bans on opinion trading, the coalition urges the ministries to take swift action to protect consumer rights, including the right to be informed, heard, educated, and safeguarded.