Sebi has barred four entities from the securities markets for six months for providing unauthorised investment advisory services and directed them to refund investors' money collected through such services within three months.

Those restrained by Sebi are -- Course Work Focus, its proprietor Shashank Hirwani; Capital Research, its proprietor Gopal Gupta; and Rahul Patel who is the proprietor of Capres.

In two separate orders, Sebi found that these entities were engaged in the business of providing investment advice to their clients, for consideration, without obtaining Sebi's registration.

According to Sebi, Course Work Focus and Hirwani collectively received over Rs 96 lakh from investors during March 2018 to July 2020 and Capital Research, Gupta and Patel together collected Rs 60.84 lakh between June 2014 and November 2019 by providing such unregistered investment advisory services.

Through such acts, they violated the provisions of investment adviser (IA) norms, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in its final order passed on Wednesday.

In its order, Sebi directed the entities to refund amount received from the clients or investors as fees in respect of their unregistered investment advisory activities within three months.

Also, they have been prohibited from accessing as well as dealing in the securities market directly or indirectly in any manner for six months years or till the expiry of six months from the date of completion of refunds to investors whichever is later.

The orders came after Sebi conducted an examination in relation to the alleged activities of unregistered investment advisory being carried out by Capital Research, Capres and Course Work Focus after receiving complaints against them.