Unriddling Investors' Grievances

Of late, Sebi has formulated a set of rules and regulations for investors’ grievance.

- Himali Patel

“I opened an account with a broker and my account got wiped out due to unauthorised trading.”

“My broker is absconding!”

“I have not received the bonus amount post its announcement by the company.”

While the world of finance offers scores of opprtunities to millions of investors in terms of multiplying their money, it also has a darker side. Yes. In the world of finance, act of vanishing companies and stock market-related scams are commonplace. Needless to say, such acts are not only annoying but can turn out to be malicious. And filing a complaint is probably the best way out.

These days, investors have multiple options when it comes to filing complaints. The nature of complaints can range anywhere between non-receipt of dividend, securities on account of a bonus to de-merger, interest on debentures and even bonds or other debt instruments, to name a few.

While investors can lodge a complaint to the concerned company or its Board of Directors, they can also choose to approach the investor grievance committee, which is usually set up separately by a company in order to address such issues. However, it might come as a surprise, but many times complaints lodged even with such panels either take too long to be addressed or even remain unresolved. But, today if investors want to lodge a proper complaint especially against listed companies, they can do so with Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi), Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA), Concerned Registrar of Office (RoC), Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and even the Ministry of Finance (MoF).