How this site's lists are produced
Two regulators publish two different kinds of lists. This page describes where the information comes from, how often it is read, what each list is and is not, and what a registered-intermediary check can prove.
Two regulators, two kinds of list
The caution table comes from the investor cautions and press releases that the Securities and Exchange Board of India publishes on its website. These are public notices about unregistered persons or apps that are being advertised as providing investment services. A caution is not an order against a named entity unless the notice itself says so; it is a warning to investors to stay away.
The Alert List table comes from the list the Reserve Bank of India publishes of entities it identifies as unauthorised to deal in forex or to operate electronic trading platforms for forex. The Reserve Bank updates this list from time to time. A listing is a regulatory statement that the named entity or platform is not authorised under the foreign exchange law; it is not a court finding.
The weekly read and which date is shown
Both sources are read once a week. The date shown in each row is the one the source gives: for SEBI cautions, the date the caution or press release was published on SEBI's website; for the RBI Alert List, the date the entry was published or last updated by the Reserve Bank.
If a source does not give a date on the page itself, the date the entry was first seen by this site is shown and labelled as such. The tables record what the source published on that date; they do not record any later change unless the source publishes one and the weekly read picks it up.
What the RBI Alert List is and is not
The Alert List names entities, websites and apps that the Reserve Bank says are not authorised to offer forex trading to residents. It is not a list of authorised platforms, and absence from the list is not evidence that a platform is authorised. The Reserve Bank's position is that residents may trade forex only on recognised exchanges in specified currency pairs involving the rupee.
The list does not state that an entity is a fraud or a scam. It states a regulatory position: the entity is not authorised under the Foreign Exchange Management Act to deal in forex or to operate an electronic trading platform for forex. Whether a resident has broken the law by using such a platform is a separate question for an authorised bank or a legal adviser.
What a registered-intermediary check can prove and what it cannot
SEBI's list of registered intermediaries lets a reader verify that a person or firm holds a registration in a category such as investment adviser, research analyst or stockbroker. The list shows the registration number, the validity period and the contact details the regulator has on record. A check proves that a registration existed on the date shown; it does not prove that the person you are dealing with is the registrant.
A registered adviser's name is often copied by impostors. The contact details on the regulator's list must match the ones you are using: the same phone number, the same email domain, the same address. A check cannot guarantee that an investment will perform, that advice is suitable, or that a platform is safe. It can only confirm the registration status.