The theme of the World Consumer Rights Day, on March 15, — 'Our money, our rights' — highlights the increasing role of individual investors in the money markets around the world, and the widespread losses they have incurred recently due to the global economic meltdown, which was caused, primarily, by the greed of large corporations.
It also acts as a wake-up call to the investor-consumer to become more aware of his rights and his role in world's economics, and the need to adhere to the clarion call of 'caveat emptor' (buyer beware) in this field as in all others.
While retail investors in India may not have been hit as badly, many in the share market were subjected to severe shocks last year as the markets plummeted; the Satyam scam also hit them hard. The shocks have been so severe that share brokers say that the retail investor is still chary of coming to the stock markets.
In reality, the Indian investor is a babe in the woods and has been at the receiving end of several frauds. Over the years, several smart alecs have conned retail investors into buying 'get rich quick' offers like plantation schemes, which led to losses in crores to the investor-consumer.
Companies like Pal Peugeot, Morepen Laboratories and Cable Corporation of India have duped depositors by not paying them interest at the due time.
Retail investors who believed that initial public offerings (IPOs) of big companies were good buys have had the mortification of seeing the value of the shares move only in the downward direction. More bad news camewhen the Securities Exchange Board of India stated that in some high-profile issues, which had led to a bonanza in the past, several scamsters had cornered millions of shares through dubious means.
The moral of the story is that unorganised retail investors need to exercise immense caution while stepping into the world of finance, or risk falling into the trap of a wily trickster.
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