SDG 4: Quality Education | SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth | SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
Ministry of Finance
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued a consultation paper to bring uniformity to the time-lag requirements for sharing and using stock market price data for educational purposes. Currently, regulatory frameworks operate under two different timelines: a one-day lag for sharing data (May 2024 circular) and a three-month lag for using that data in educational content (January 2025 circular).
Current Disparity: While educational institutes can receive data with a one-day delay to prepare materials, they are restricted from using any data newer than three months in a classroom or media setting.
Proposed Uniformity: SEBI now proposes a consistent 30-day lag for both the sharing and the usage of price data for all educational and awareness activities.
Public Consultation: Stakeholders and the general public are invited to submit comments on this proposal by January 27, 2026.
Distinguishing Education from Investment Advice A primary driver for these norms is to ensure a clear boundary between pure investor education and regulated investment advisory (IA) or research analyst (RA) activities.
Predictive Risk: Using live or near-live data for education is viewed as predictive analysis, which falls under the legal definitions of investment advice or research.
Curbing Misuse: The proposed 30-day window is intended to prevent the proliferation of unauthorized “gaming” platforms and apps that might misuse real-time data under the guise of education.
Efficiency Balance: Internal deliberations suggested that the previous three-month lag was too long, potentially making educational content less relevant for learners.
What is the distinction between ‘Education’ and ‘Advice’ in market data? According to SEBI, the differentiator lies in the age of the data used. Pure educational activity focuses on explaining market mechanics and historical trends using “old” data; conversely, using live or recent data involves predicting future price movements, which legally falls under regulated Investment Advisory services.
Policy Relevance
This proposal is a critical regulatory step in India’s effort to curb the rise of unauthorized “dabba trading” and predatory gamified apps that use real-time data to encourage speculative betting under the guise of education. It reflects a move toward proactive digital governance in the capital markets.
By hard-coding data age as a regulatory boundary, SEBI converts a historically intent-based distinction between education and advice into an auditable, rule-based standard. This allows enforcement to shift from subjective content review toward verifiable data-access controls, strengthening SEBI’s capacity to act at the infrastructure level rather than platform-by-platform. The move also creates a stable design space for National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE)-aligned curricula, where educators can plan modules around a known data window without periodic re-interpretation of compliance risk. Over time, this approach signals a broader regulatory strategy: using technical design constraints to pre-empt market-conduct violations in digitally mediated financial education.
Follow the full report here: Consultation Paper on “Norms for sharing and usage of price data for educational purposes”