Shri Prem Chand Gupta Launches Investor Helpline
Minister of Company Affairs, Shri Prem Chand Gupta launched the “Investor Helpline”, a website developed by Midas Touch Investors Association, here today. The website is fully funded under Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF), Ministry of Company Affairs. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that protection of interest of investors has been the prime concern of the UPA Government and a large number of measures have been taken to protect the interest of investors. Launch of this website is another attempt of the Ministry to empower the investors by providing them with an alternative mechanism for redressal of their grievances through the use of Information Technolgy, Shri Gupta added.
“Investor Helpline” is a single dedicated portal to handle investor grievances administered by different authorities i.e. Ministry of Company Affairs, Registrar of Companies (RoCs), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a focused and sustained manner. Right from filing grievances to tracking status and interaction with administrator has been made online to make it user-friendly. The objective is to impart thrust to investor grievances and make the companies respond promptly. Additionally, the portal aims at development of an informed and enlightened investors. The Redressal Process involves:
· Registration
· Forwarding the grievance to the company through e-mail as well as normal Dak(post)
· Follow up with the companies and keep the regulators and authorities apprised about the steps taken for redressal.
· Requesting authorities/regulators to intervene for facilitation of redressal if the company fails to resolve it within reasonable time.
Following is the text of Minister’s speech delivered during the launch of “Investor Helpline” :
“Dear friends, I am very happy to be with you all here for the launch of “Investor Helpline”, a website developed by Midas Touch Investors Association. This website has been fully funded under Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF).
Friends, Protection of interest of the investors has been the prime concern of the UPA Government. We have been taking a large number of measures to protect the interest of investors. Launch of this website under IEPF is another attempt of our Ministry to empower the investors by providing them with an alternative mechanism for redressal of their grievances through the use of Information Technology.
I am sure, you would be aware of our e-governance project MCA 21 which has been launched across the 20 ROC offices in the country. MCA21, is a landmark initiative in the National E-governance Plan of the Country. The project envisages electronic filing of companies’ documents through an interactive and paperless registration process through internet.
There are various advantages of this Project for all the stakeholders, namely- the companies, the financial institutions, the investors and the Government. I may tell you that all the public documents of the companies are now available for inspection online. The investors can have access to these documents without going to the ROC office. For the convenience of the public we have provided for the Front Offices where all the services are available free of charge. This is to facilitate the small companies to switch over from the manual mode of transaction to the electronic mode.
With this e-governance initiative, we have also introduced a unique concept called DIN (Director Identification Number). This will be mandatory for all the existing and potential directors. The DIN would not only help in fixing the identity of the person but also co-relate his participation in other companies, past or present. It would enable the investors to gather information about the directors’ involvement in any company and also the capacity.
Friends, having some experience of the corporate sector myself, I have been conscious of the need for fundamental changes in the existing system of regulating our corporate sector. We are living today in a global environment where interdependence is the order of the day. No economy can develop and prosper in isolation. The competition is increasing day by day. In such a scenario, our corporates need level playing field.
In this background andrRealizing the difficulties of our corporate sector, we have been working on a number of initiatives in the Ministry. We have taken up the comprehensive revision of the Companies Act, 1956. Through a process of consultation with various stakeholders, professionals, experts and expert bodies, we are now at an advanced stage of the preparation of draft legislation. Steps have been taken on a number of other legislative initiatives, be it the Competition Act or a new legal framework on the Limited Liability Partnership. In the new economic scenario, the role of services sector has undergone a sea change and in this context professionals are providing a complete new range of services to the corporate sector. Such professionals – Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries and Cost Accountants – must do their job with diligence and should be accountable for their work. With this in mind, we had made amendments in the three Professional Institutes Acts with a view to bring transparent and expeditious disciplinary mechanism, a quality review Board with representation from all the stakeholders and the permission to form multi-disciplinary firms to offer professional services in the globalized world.
Importance of financial reporting has become paramount in the recent times when various stakeholders such as shareholders, creditors and regulators have to base their decisions, related to an enterprise, based on the financial reports made available to them. Economic reforms and emergence of global corporates have made this reporting more complex and challenging. Reliable, comparable and unbiased information is a sine-qua-non for taking sound economic and financial decisions.
Accounting Standards play an important role in this process. The Ministry has recently taken steps to notify 29 Accounting Standards. These accounting standards, once notified, would introduce greater elements of transparency and disclosures in the working of corporate sector and would make it compatible with international norms. This would also make comparison of the financial information more objective and meaningful.
Over the last decade, Corporate Governance has risen in prominence as the role of the private sector has increased around the world, and greater integration of financial markets has led to greater competition for capital flows. In this context, India has taken several important steps over the last few years to improve its investment climate and Corporate Governance framework.
The World Bank had carried out a Corporate Governance assessment for India and has found that over the last few years, a series of legal and regulatory reforms have transformed the Indian Corporate Governance framework and improved the level of responsibility and accountability of insiders, fairness in the treatment of minority shareholders and stakeholders, Board practices and transparency.
The Ministry has also taken a number of steps in the recent past to strengthen the working of Investor Education and Protection Fund. The Committee on IEPF has been reconstituted by including the professionals in the field of Banking, Economics, Capital Market and Media. This would give the necessary impetus which is required to broad-base and increase the out-reach of the activities for investor education and empowerment. The focus would be not only to strengthen the protection mechanism by providing a robust legal structure but also on the spread of financial literacy which ultimately would enable the investor to make an informed decision about his investments.
I am happy to note that Midas Touch Investors Association has been playing a proactive role in taking up the cause of investors and this Helpline seeks to provide services to the investing community free of charge. I wish all the success to the Helpline.”
BY/- 56 /06
(Release ID :20601)