The Investor Education & Protection Fund (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules 2016 have been amended vide GSR No.571 (E) dated 14.8.2019 to simplify the process of refund of claims filed with The Investor Education & Protection Fund Authority (the Authority).  The amended rules inter-alia provide for digitisation with transparent and faceless processing of claims by the Authority. Compliances by companies have also been made time bound and system driven with rule based enforcement.

This was stated by Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

The Authority has been set up under Section 125 of the Companies Act, 2013 (The Act) with the objective of promoting investor education, protection and also to make refund of claims to the investors as per extant provisions of the Act. During the last 3 years more than 35,000 Investor Awareness Programmes (IAPs) have been organised in rural and urban areas of the country through the Professional Institutes under Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Common Service Centers (CSCs) e-Governance Services India Limited for creating awareness among the Investors. Awareness creating messages are also disseminated from time to time through print and electronic media. The Authority launched a joint campaign of Investor awareness in association with RBI, SEBI and Department of Consumer Affairs. The Authority has also collaborated with Department of Telecommunications, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs and Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan for achieving the objective of Investor Education and Protection.

Investor protection rules amended: digitised faceless processing simplifies refund claims and enforces time bound compliance. Amendments to the IEPF (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016 simplify the process for refund of claims by instituting digitisation, transparent and faceless processing, and rule based, time bound company compliances. The Investor Education & Protection Fund Authority, established under Section 125 of the Companies Act, 2013, continues to promote investor education and protection while implementing these system driven reforms and coordinating investor awareness programmes.