Capital market regulator Sebi has set up a committee to find out the ways and means to best utilise the Investor Protection and Education Fund (IPEF).
"We have set up a committee. It is guiding us in how this fund (IPEF) is spent," Sebi whole-time member Prashant Saran said.
The panel is entrusted to recommend whether investor education and protection activities that may be undertaken directly by the Board, or through any other agency, for utilisation of the Sebi Investor Protection and Education Fund for the purposes stated in the Sebi (Investor Protection and Education Fund) Regulations, 2009.
The IPEF, set up in July 2007, had Rs 13.15 crore as on March 31, 2008 which increased to Rs 16.63 crore a year later. However, until March 31, 2009, Sebi had not spent even a single penny from this fund.
The eight-member committee is headed by ICICI Bank Chairman KV Kamath.
Apart from Kamath, the other members include retired bureaucrat PK Ghosh, IIM Ahmedabad professor Abraham Koshy, communications consultant Ramesh Narayan and managing director of Shri Mahila SEWA Sahkari Bank, Jayashree Vyas.
The Sebi will be represented by executive director Ananta Barua and chief general managers G P Garg and VS Sundaresan.