Sajjan Jindal has begun opening demat accounts for farmers of Salboni in West Bengal?s Paschim Midnapore district who have sold him their land for his proposed 10-million tonne steel plant.
Determined to keep his promise that all land-losers would not only get compensation and jobs but also become shareholders in the project, the VC & MD of JSW Steel Ltd had run up against some procedural hurdles.
For one, any person buying and selling shares needs not only dematerialised account, but also a bank account and a permanent account number.
Jindal told FE on Monday that he had convinced finance minister P Chidambaram that his unique scheme to provide shares to farmers against land is perfectly legal and meets Sebi guidelines.
?Finance minister P Chidambaram had asked me whether this scheme is legal or not. I have satisfied him by giving details of how we would go about it,? he said.
On Sunday, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had reportedly expressed doubts about Jindal?s plan.
Jindal said: ?We would be setting up a trust where all these things would be taken care of. The trust would be a sort of a custodian of the shares that the farmers are entitled to.?