Harish began posting videos about finance and investing around five years ago, building a substantial online following.
Over the years, he published more than 1,500 videos and amassed more than 1.3 million Instagram followers. He described himself as a financial adviser to “millionaires” and “high-net-worth individuals”.
He often used music, film clips and photos of global political leaders to make dramatic videos while talking about the rise and fall of the share market and prices of gold and silver.
The videos, which broke down financial issues in simple terms, became hugely popular as they coincided with a rapid expansion in India’s retail investor base, especially since the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.
The country’s largest stock exchange, the National Stock Exchange, said earlier this year it now had more than 130 million unique investors registered with it as opposed to under 30 million in 2019.
But in September, Meta took down Harish’s Instagram page after receiving complaints he was not registered with Indian market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) – which is required under law to be able to offer investment advice or manage client portfolios.
A back-up account, which gained over 60,000 followers in a short time, was also subsequently taken down, external following complaints from social media users and others.
A few other accounts in his name remain on Instagram, though with much smaller followings – and it’s not clear who runs them.
According to Harish’s friends and family, he recorded a video message before his death in which he said that “five years of hard work has been stolen” from him, news channel NDTV reported, external.
The video, which has also been shared widely on social media, shows him speaking in Tamil and then switching to English to say “I’m very sorry” to his parents, sister, friends and followers.
