New Delhi: as the Investor Education and protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) stepped into its 5th year of operation, on 7th September 2020, The Institute of Company Secretaries of India as a partner Institute of IEPFA, organised a National Webinar on “Need for more Robust Regulation for Investor Education and Protection”.
Chief Guest on the occasion, Shri Rajesh Verma, Secretary MCA and Chairman IEPFA, in his key note address said “In its endeavour towards prompt citizen service delivery, IEPFA is focusing on effective and timely grievance redressal mechanism along with strong financial outreach programme. This will help us create robust ecosystem for investor education and awareness.” He also mentioned that IEPFA has settled 14000 claims in the last three years and refunded 72 lakh shares having market value of more than Rs. 450 crore and moved its claim settling process online.
Shri Manoj Pandey, Joint Secretary MCA and CEO IEPFA in his address highlighted the various achievements and the way forward by the IEPF Authority towards fulfilling the twin objective of its very establishment by firstly settling the claims of refund of matured debentures, deposits and unpaid dividends and secondly by organising mass education and awareness programmes on investor education and protection in association with professional institutes like ICSI. He requested professionals to be part of good governance by availing the schemes floated by the Ministry and support the twin cause of Ease of doing Business and Ease of Living to enable the county to become a global economic power.
Guest of honour, Shri K. P. Krishnan, IEPFA research Chair at NCAER and former Skills Ministry Secretary, said, “IEPFA should become a repository of the best database on Indian consumers investing in financial products. Intellectual work, empirical work backed by data on investor protection is what we need to do.”
Concurring with the idea of educating and empowering the investor, CS Ashish Garg, President ICSI, said “It gives me a feeling of immense pleasure and pride that ICSI has time and again shown its support to IEPFA, for achieving its intended objective of strengthening the governance structure of India Inc.”
Commemorating the occasion, ICSI released FAQ on Virtual Meetings and Certificate Course on GST and Forensic Audit at the hands of Secretary MCA. ICSI also introduced two special schemes on the day, to facilitate and empower its members; the Bank of Baroda Credit Card facility and Financial Assistance from Poona Finance Limited.
