Permits of 9 investor associations to expire in 6 months

The validity period of recognition granted to as many as nine investor associations are set to expire in the next six months, with permission for five ending this year itself, according to market regulator Sebi.
The associations, each comprising of at least 100 members, include individual capital market shareholders and non-profit organisations and mainly work towards protection of investor interests and other allied services.
Presently, 23 investor associations are registered with Sebi of which recognition granted to five such groups ending by December 31 this year, updated details available with the capital market regulator showed.
While licence of Delhi-based Society for Consumers' And Investors' Protection would expire on November 30, permits of -- Consumer Guidance Society of India, Investor Education and Welfare Association, Orissa Consumers' Association and the Bombay Shareholders' Association -- would end on December 31, this year.

Permits of four investor bodies -- Bhopal Stock Investors Association, Consumers' Association, Lokmanya Seva Sangh (Parle) and the Gujarat Investors & Shareholders Association -- would end during January-March period, next year.
Meanwhile, of the total 23 associations, registration of as many as eight investor groups stand expired with validity of six of them having ended in the last few months.

Registration granted to Consumers' Guidance Society and Kolhapur Investors' Association had expired this month itself.
The capital market regulator is in process of renewing permits of four associations whose recognition has expired. These are -- VOICE Society, Investors Grievances Forum, Consumer Protection Association and All Gujarat Investor Protection Trust.

As per Sebi guidelines, investor associations have to apply for renewal of recognition at least three months prior to the expiry of the permits. However, the regulator can make exceptions in certain fitting cases.
The renewal of recognition of the investor association is for a period of three years, as per Sebi norms.
An association is initially granted a provisional recognition for a period of one year.
At the end of this period, considering the performance of the Association, the provisional recognition could be extended by one year "provided that such extensions shall be granted up to a maximum of three one year terms".