MCA inspection report on NSEL books likely in couple of weeks

Corporate Affairs Ministry expects to complete the inspection of account books of the crisis-hit National Spot Exchange Ltd, its promoter group Financial Technologies and others, within a couple of weeks.

The inspection has been ordered as the Rs 5,600 crore payment crisis at NSEL continues.

"I think it will take a couple of weeks. I have asked the department to do it as soon as possible," Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot said here today.

He was responding to query on the status of inspection of account books of NSEL and related entities.

Following the payment fiasco, which has raised concerns about the violation of various regulations, the bourse has come under the scanner of multiple authorities and investigating agencies.

The inspection by the ministry is to ascertain whether any rules under the Companies Act were violated by the entities involved.

Under the Companies Act, the ministry has powers to inspect the books of accounts of firms.

Already, the Registrar of Companies has been asked to provide details about NSEL, its promoter group and related entities.

NSEL, a commodity exchange promoted by Jignesh Shah-led FTIL, is grappling with settling dues of about Rs 5,600 crore after it suspended trading on July 31 following a government directive.

Last week, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said NSEL had violated rules from day one and the matter was being looked into by the ministry, the CBI and the Forward Markets Commission - commodity markets regulator - among others.