To enhance investors? awareness about the corporate sector, the ministry of corporate affairs would now involve its regional directors (RDs) and the Registrar of Companies (RoCs) in the functioning of the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF).
Corporate affairs minister Salman Khurshid told FE, ?The RDs and RoCs are the extended arms of the ministry and we would be using them as a vehicle in creating understanding among the investors. Investor?s education is a major work that we have to do next year and we would be making special efforts for that. ?
Investors Education and Protection Fund which comes under section 205 C of the Companies Act 1956 is a fund that was created for spreading awareness amongst the investors and protection of the interests of the investors. IEPF, which was set up in 2003, at present has a corpus of around Rs 450 crore . The main source of funds for IEPF are the amounts in the unpaid dividend accounts of companies and the application money received by companies for allotment of any securities.
A senior MCA official said the step to involve the RoCs and
RDs would create responsiveness amongst the investors at a grass-root level. ?The concept of investor?s protection would be looked from the point of view of the requirement of the investors such as foreign investors, investors in equity, small investors or deposit holders, large institutional investors, investors in debentures,? the official said.
Taking a cue from the Satyam fraud which highlighted the shortcomings in the Indian law system, the ministry would be incorporating the concept of ?Class-Action Suit? in the new Companies Bill.