Royal ride for investors

...by the way
Royal ride for investors

Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Securities Exchange Board of India appear to be singing the same song as far as the utilisation of the Investors’ Education Fund is concerned. It is a different story though that both appear to have little idea on how the real stakeholders, the investors’ interest, must be protected. This is especially the case since UK Sinha took over as SEBI Chairman. While there have been one or two meetings with certain NGOs, there has been no result on the ground. Both the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and SEBI now have evolved the fantastic idea of roping in the Institute of Company Secretaries, Assocham, FICCI and CII to spread the message of investors’ education, the meetings organised by these associations for this purpose appear to have excluded the real stakeholders. Thus, when these powerful trade bodies organised grand meetings of the then minister Veerappa Moily in the four metros, the business glitterati was present, but small investors were conspicuous by their absence. It was in October that the Ministry had brought out a report of the Committee for ‘Follow-up of Action Points relating to Investor Related Issues Identified from ICIM Events’. The committee was made up of representatives from these industry bodies and its recommendations appear to have little to do with investor education. SEBI, which is the nodal agency for making investors aware of all possible frauds by different companies, appears to feel that the way forward lies in companies setting up investor-friendly websites and ensuring a faster redressal system. Is this an attempt to squander Rs 1,000 crore plus coprus allocated for the ignorants investors. What an idea, sirji!