Rajya Sabha
This Ministry of Company Affairs has chalked out an elaborate plan for investor education and protection under Investor Education & Protection Fund (IEPF) for the year 2007-2008. This includes: -
(i) Organising seminars/ programmes on investor education through associations registered under IEPF to educate the investors about the Initial Public Offers (IPOs), Capital market instruments and mutual funds;
(ii) Conducting ‘Training the Trainers’ Programme for capacity building of the Non Governmental Organisations/Voluntary Organisations;
(iii) Media Campaigns through Electronic and print medium to create investor awareness and spread Financial Literacy amongst potential investors;
Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) has been established under Section 205C of the Companies Act, 1956 by way of Companies (Amendment) Act, 1999 for promotion of investors’ awareness and protection of the interests of investors.
The Ministry has taken the following steps to protect the small investors from being defrauded: -
(i) MCA-21, an e-governance initiative, has been launched with a view to bring transparency and certainty in the delivery of services to the stakeholders and empower the investors by providing access to the public information about the companies.
(ii) A new concept of Director Identification Number has been introduced for existing or intending directors, which would help in establishing the identity of a Director and also help in correlating his participation in other corporate entities.
(iii) A website, namely www.watchoutinvestors.com, which is a national registry of economic defaulters and covers information on convictions by various regulatory bodies, has been created to help, free of cost, the investors to protect themselves from unscrupulous promoters, companies and entities.
(iv) An “Investor Helpline” www.investorhelpline.in project has also been launched under IEPF through Midas Touch Investors Association to provide a mechanism for redressal of grievances and to create investor awareness, free of cost.
This information was given by Shri Prem Chand Gupta, Minister of Company Affairs in reply to the questions raised by Shri V. Hanumantha Rao in Rajya Sabha today.
BY/SL-27/07