Mumbai, Apr 20: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon come out with a comprehensive booklet aiming to inform depositors about the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs). "RBI has launched a public information campaign so that depositors should satisfy themselves about the genuineness and soundness of NBFCs before they deposit their savings with them. Apart from this, RBI will continue to closely monitor the effectiveness of the regulatory framework for the NBFCs," the central bank governor, Bimal Jalan, said in his statement on the monetary and credit policy for the year 1999-2000.Sources close to the apex bank said that this is the first phase of an extensive drive being launched by the central bank to protect investors, and includes using the print media and television.
"RBI has already placed orders for two lakh copies for the booklets which, among other things, will contain the all-India list of NBFCs (including residual non-banking finance companies) whose application for certificate ofregistration under section 45IA of RBI Act have been approved and are allowed to hold/accept deposits from public," the chief general manager, department of non-banking supervision, VSN Murthy said.
He added that the booklets, which will be available free-of-cost, will also contain the list of NBFCs whose applications have been rejected by the central bank. "This is aimed at providing comprehensive information to investors before they commit their hard earned savings into the NBFC sector," Murthy said.
"The same information is also available at the RBI's website, www.rbi.org.in," Murthy said, adding that the printing and distribution of booklets has turned out to be a less expensive and more effective alternate to advertising in the print media, which would have cost the central bank more than Rs 1 crore.
Sources said that the booklets will be available within a week, though distribution channels have yet to be finalised. "The apex bank will also be using the television serials and advertisement in theTV to inform viewers about the `do's and dont's' concerning the NBFCs," Murthy said.
Incidentally, the monetary and credit policy announced by the RBI governor on Tuesday stated that out of about 8,802 applications of NBFCs which were eligible for registration on the basis of minimum net owned funds (NOF) of Rs 25 lakh, registraton has been granted to 7,555 NBFCs of which only 584 NBFCs have been permitted to accept public deposits and applications of 1,030 companies have been rejected. As many as 28,676 companies with NOF below Rs 25 lakh, as provided in the Act, have been given time upto January 8,2000 to achieve the minimum NOF.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
Printer-friendly page
