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To provide efficacious mechanism for resolving disputes between investors and regulated entities, capital markets regulator SEBI is examining introducing an alternate dispute resolution mechanism, a release said on Monday.
SEBI in November 2021 published the ‘Investor Charter’ for securities markets to further augment its efforts to protect investors’ interests, promote transparency in markets and enhance awareness, trust and confidence among investors. Since then, various steps have been taken to implement the charter, the regulator said.
Separate charters regarding investor-related activities of various intermediaries have been developed by SEBI in consultation with the respective entities.
The charter contains information related to details of various services provided by the intermediaries to investors, their timelines, importance of preservation of relevant documents by the investors, investor grievance redressal mechanism, etc.
As for SEBI’s own charter, efforts have been taken to enhance the effectiveness of investor grievance redressal mechanism.
It has been publishing the status of disposal of investor grievances received in SCORES (SEBI Complaints Redress System) on its website on a monthly basis, the regulator noted.
Also, details of investor grievances, which are pending for more than three months with different intermediaries, are also being published.
“In case SEBI receives a large number of/repeated complaints on any issue, the root causes are analyzed and if required, appropriate policy changes are made to address the issue,” the regulator said.
Some of the recent policy initiatives taken by SEBI, after conducting such an analysis, include amendments pertaining to the Investor Protection Fund or Investor Service Fund and its related matters to expand the scope of dispute resolution.
In addition, “SEBI is also examining, in consultation with regulated entities, the possibility of introducing alternate dispute resolution mechanism in various agreements (wherever possible) between the regulated entities and their clients,” the regulator said.
This is with a view to providing efficacious mechanism for resolving disputes between the investors and the regulated entities, it added.
Separate charters have been developed for exchanges, depositories, SEBI registered intermediaries and regulated entities including stock brokers, depository participants, asset management companies, Registrar and Transfer Agents, investment advisers, research analysts, merchant bankers.
Stock exchanges, depositories and various intermediaries have since published the respective charters on their websites.
These charters are expected to help investors improve their ease of investing in Indian securities market.
