The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has initiated several steps to protect the interests of investors through programmes of investors’ awareness and education. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, Shri Sachin Pilot, Minister of Corporate Affairs, said that important among such steps are :

(i) Undertaking investor awareness programmes in association with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Institute of Company Secretaries of India and Institute of Cost Accountants of India, specifically targeting investors in tier II and tier III cities.

(ii) Publication of a comprehensive guide in English and two smaller booklets in English, Hindi and 11 vernacular languages for use of investors. The same are distributed to all the investors participating in the investor awareness programmes.

(iii) Issue of multi-lingual print media advertisements from time to time to caution the investors about fraudulent investment schemes.

(iv) Undertaking media campaigns through DD News Channels and Regional Kendras of Doordarshan.

(v) Publishing a brief investor’s awareness message on Post Office Savings Bank Passbooks.

(vi) A system of sending SMSs introduced cautioning investors to be careful while making investments.

(vii) Providing search facility on the portal of the Ministry (MCA 21) enabling investors to search their unpaid and unclaimed amounts and claim payments from the concerned companies.

(viii) Creation of facility on MCA21 website for lodging investor complaints and for tracking their status.

Investor protection through coordinated awareness, multilingual outreach and an online portal enabling claims search and complaint tracking. Protection of investor interests is advanced through targeted investor education and a grievance redress framework emphasizing partnerships with professional bodies, multilingual publications, mass media outreach and alerts. The MCA21 portal provides searchable access to unpaid and unclaimed investor amounts, an online complaint lodging facility and complaint tracking, forming an integrated preventive and remedial investor protection system.