"Sebi has written to the RBI and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to participate in the working of the task forces keeping track of vanishing companies," Mr Mehta said.

Market regulator has decided to enlarge the scope of task force' work to include Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) like plantation firms, Mr Mehta said adding that the Sebi had constituted seven task forces to go into investor grievances about the companies that had raised funds from the market but were now untraceable.

He said some companies have issued post-dated cheques to investors and dealing with such firms would be easier with RBI's co-operation.

Similarly, income tax authorities have the powers to inspect details of the money raised through various schemes and track the spendings of plantation firms, Mr Mehta said.

About 642 CIS entities with investor funds of Rs 2,681 crore with them have sent information to Sebi and only 49 had filed applications for the registration, he said.

The plantation firms with 111 schemes worth Rs 400 crore have claimed that they had either repaid or taken steps to disburse money back to the investors, according to latest information available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Securities and Exchange Board of India has filed a public interest litigations against five CIS entities and its promoters to recover Rs 1,129 crore.

(PTI)