Lok Sabha Question No. 265 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-05
Subject: Awareness and Education Programme for Rural Investors
Ministry: CORPORATE AFFAIRS
Asked by: Dushyant Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 265

ANSWERED ON MONDAY THE 5 TH  FEBRUARY, 2024/

MAGHA 16, 1945 (SAKA)

AWARENESS AND EDUCATION PROGRAMME FOR RURAL INVESTORS

## QUESTION

265. SHRI DUSHYANT SINGH:

Will the Minister of CORPORATE AFFAIRS

be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is running any awareness and education programmes
- for rural investors;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  total  spendings  on  such  programmes during the last five years including the current year;
- (c) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to ease the claim procedure for claimants from IEPF accounts; and
- (d) the  details  of  the  shares  and  dividend  transferred  to  Investor  Education  and Protection  Fund  Account  during  the  last  four  years  along  with  current  total number  of  shares  and  its  market  value  and  total  dividend  available  in  the account?

## ANSWER

THE  MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  OF  THE  MINISTRY  OF STATE (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  OF  THE  MINISTRY  OF  PLANNING  AND  MINISTER  OF

STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION; MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS.

(RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

(a) & (b):  Yes Sir. As  a  part of the mandate provided under the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) organises Investor Awareness Programmes (IAPs) across the country including rural areas in collaboration with partner organizations like Common Service Centres eGov. Services India Ltd (CSC), Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) etc.

These  Programmes  are  conducted  by  these  partner  organisations  as  per  their presence in various States/ UTs and in Tier-I, II, III cities/ villages, etc. Securities and  Exchange  Board  of  India  (SEBI)  also  by  various  means  promotes  Investor Education  and  Awareness  among  general  public  including  rural  investors.  It conducts  investor  education  and  awareness  programmes  along  with  Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs) such as Exchanges and Depositories. Further SEBI along with other financial sector regulators viz RBI, IRDAI and PFRDA are the copromoters of National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE). NCFE has been set up by all the Financial Sector Regulators as a Section (8) company under Companies Act, 2013 to undertake basic financial education and to develop suitable content for increasing financial literacy among the masses including rural people in the country.

The total spending on awareness activities during last five years including the current year is at AnnexureI

(c): A process re-engineering was carried out in the claim settlement process by amending  rules  under  'The  Investor  Education  and  Protection  Fund  Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016'. The salient changes are as enlisted below:

- (i) A  new  simplified  web  based  e-form  IEPF-5  having  features  of  PAN  based verification has been implemented.
- (ii) The processing of e-form IEPF-5 by the companies and submission of verification reports to the Authority has been made online.
- (iii) Standard document list and Standard Operating Procedure for processing of claims including those involving transmission and loss of share certificates have been prescribed through Schedules.

In addition, Authority regularly invites suggestions from industry, companies and investors  to  make  the  process  more  investor  friendly  and  relaxations  and amendments are made in rules accordingly.

(d)  The details of the shares and dividend transferred to Investor Education and Protection Fund Account during the last four years along with current total number of shares and its market value and total dividend available in the account are at Annexure-II.

********

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  &  (b)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 265 FOR 05.02.2024

- (i) Spending  on  awareness  programmes  during  last  5  years  including current year by IEPFA is as follows:

|   S. NO. | Financial Year   |   Amount (Rs. crores) | in   |
|----------|------------------|-----------------------|------|
|        1 | 2019-2020        |                 11.08 |      |
|        2 | 2020-2021        |                  6.36 |      |
|        3 | 2021-2022        |                 10.47 |      |
|        4 | 2022-2023        |                  8.45 |      |
|        5 | 2023-2024*       |                  3.21 |      |

*Provisional data up to 31st December, 2023.

- (ii) Spending on awareness and education programmes during last 5 years including current year by SEBI is as follows: -

|   S. NO. | Financial Year   |   Amount (Rs. crores) | in   |
|----------|------------------|-----------------------|------|
|        1 | 2019-2020        |                 11.84 |      |
|        2 | 2020-2021        |                 28.84 |      |
|        3 | 2021-2022        |                  6.81 |      |
|        4 | 2022-2023        |                 11.93 |      |
|        5 | 2023-2024*       |                  2.29 |      |

*Data up to 31 st  December, 2023 regarding programmes conducted by SEBI in coordination with MIIS (exchanges and depositories)

Annexure-II

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (d)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 265 FOR 05.02.2024

Details of the amount including dividend and shares transferred to Investor Education and Protection Fund Account during the last four years along with current year.

|   S. No. | Financial Year   |   Amount including unclaimed dividend transferred to IEPF during Financial Year (Rs. In crores) | Shares transferred to IEPF during the Financial Year (in numbers)   |
|----------|------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | 2019-2020        |                                                                                         1887.17 | 15,08,83,796                                                        |
|        2 | 2020-2021        |                                                                                          505.67 | 12,97,92,080                                                        |
|        3 | 2021-2022        |                                                                                          446.22 | 14,18,96,190                                                        |
|        4 | 2022-2023        |                                                                                          452.26 | 16,16,64,998                                                        |
|        5 | 2023-2024*       |                                                                                          278.11 | 13,37,54,477                                                        |

*Provisional data up to 31st December, 2023.

The transfer of shares and amount to the fund and their refund to the claimants  is  a  continuous  process.  As  on  31st  December,  2023,  the  total number  of  shares  with  the  fund  is  1,44,63,50,921  with  a  market  value  of approximately Rs. 65,599.25 Crores. The Market value of shares fluctuates based upon stock indices. The total amount including dividend available with the fund is Rs. 5,866.22 Crores as on 31st December, 2023.