Rbi, Sebi Plan Ads For Investor Education

The two major financial markets regulators - Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)- are gearing up to launch independent publicity drives to educate the public on investment options and the risks associated with them.

The focus of the RBI campaign is believed to be on issues pertaining to the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs).

The campaign will be launched in the print and the electronics media.

The central bank has invited top advertising agencies to make presentations to a committee, specially constituted for this purpose, sources said. About 8-10 top agencies have already made their presentations.

 

The final selection of the ad agency to handle the campaign will, however, be done after the committee takes a final decision on the nature of the campaign.

In the wake of the CRB debacle and the new RBI regulations for the NBFC sector, the central bank has found it advisable to educate the investor public on various aspects of the regulations.

The idea is to warn the investors on precautions they should exercise while opting for investment in these companies.

While the RBI is believed to have indicated a budget of Rs one crore for the campaign, the agencies believe the final budget will have to be a multiple of this amount.

This is because the apex bank wants all national and language newspapers, magazines and TV channels to be covered, a representative of one of the agencies who made a presentation said.

The idea of the campaign got a boost after the success of the voluntary disclosure of income scheme (VDIS) campaign launched in the second half of last year.

The VDIS publicity campaign has been regarded as highly effective, contributing in a major way to the ultimate success of the scheme.

In the meantime, Sebi has decided to launch a public awareness drive to appraise the common investor with the risks involved in different investment schemes and instruments. It is believed to have invited the Advertising Agencies Associ-ation of India (AAAI) to nominate two persons from the profession for this purpose.

While the Reserve Bank campaign will have a narrow focus, exclusively on the non-banking finance companies , that of Sebi is expected to be of a broader nature covering a host of issues relating to investment.