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Pilot, who interacted with stock brokers and investor groups at an event organised by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), said he is writing letters to chief ministers of all states to actively engage in protecting investors from ponzi and unauthorised money raising schemes run by companies.
"Investor awareness programmes need to be stepped up and we are taking efforts. Some of the recent instances of fraudulent schemes have scared investors and we need to step up vigilance. Corporate Affairs Ministry is collecting data on various aspects of frauds committed with investors and will actively engage in investor protection initiatives," Pilot said.
The short budget session of Parliament has hectic agenda. Apart from economic survey and budget, there are 39 Bills listed for consideration of Parliament. Another 20 may be introduced. Some bills include controversial Lokpal and caste quota in promotions in government services. Opposition parties have asked for a debate on contentious issues like price rise and corruption charges in the VVIP helicopter deal.
While the Lok Sabha has passed broad provisions on the Companies Bill, the Corporate Affairs Ministry has powers to prescribe rules under various sections. Renuka Kumar, Joint Secretary at Corporate Affairs Ministry said, the norms were formulated and would be soon put out on the ministry website.
There is a concern over discretion given to the ministry in forming rules. Many investor activists present at the conference believed the government may not be able to control corporates tightly if those rules were weak in terms of prescribing a precise remedy to frauds. Investor wealth of around Rs 80,000 crore is locked in over 1,500 listed companies, which were suspended from trading by stock for various listing agreement violations. The existing policies have proved to be ineffective in making promoters of such companies accountable to investors.
