Sebi tells other sector regulators to promote investor awareness

The market regulator is said to have had spent about Rs 40 cr on investor awareness programmes last year

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) wants other financial sector regulators to emulate its investor awareness and education initiatives. At a recent meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council, apex body for financial sector development and regulation, it expressed concern over the lack of initiatives from its counterparts in investor education, said sources.

Sebi is said to have told the others it had spent about Rs 40 crore on investor awareness programmes last year. And, that other regulatory bodies should begin spending more on this cause.

An email to Sebi on this wasn’t answered.

The other bodies here are the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, Forward Markets Commission and Reserve Bank of India. Sebi has said it has empanelled 900 resource personnel to cover all states and 390 districts. And, conducted close to 16,000 investor awareness programmes across income groups. Beside an ongoing media campaign, in various languages, cautioning investors on illicit money collection schemes.

Sebi has directed the intermediaries it regulates, including stock exchanges and asset management companies, to take such initiatives. AMCs have been committing to ‘adopting’ districts for financial literacy. In 2012, Sebi had asked fund houses to set aside 0.02 per cent from revenue for investor education initiatives.

In the current financial year, it plans to spend close to Rs 55 crore towards investor protection and education, with Rs 30 crore on media campaigns and Rs 14 crore on financial education seminars.

As on April this year, Sebi says its Investor Protection and Education Fund had a total of Rs 65 crore.