Govt receives 854 investor complains against companies in April-June

As many as 854 investor complaints have been received against companies in April-June of 2016-17, with most grievances pertaining to non-receipt of dividend, Parliament was informed.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal said the complaints received against companies in the current fiscal till June 30 stood at 854. Of these, 638 were resolved.

These complaints were related to non-receipt of dividend, refund in the case of a public issue, redemption and interest on debentures.

During April-June, as many as 524 complaints pertained to non-receipt of dividend and 236 dealt in non-receipt of redemption on debt securities.

The number of pending investor grievances against companies stood at 3,296 for the entire last fiscal while the preceding financial year saw 3,886 and 2013-14 (5,005).

Besides, a total of 2,838 complaints were resolved in 2015-16, 3,364 in 2014-15 and 4,184 in 2013-14.

Markets regulator Sebi takes up the complaints with the firms concerned and takes punitive action in the case of non-resolution, the minister said.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) also takes action against firms that fail to redress investor grievances.