Chennai: Talking tough on illegal money- pooling schemes, regulator Sebi today said it has passed orders against 250 companies engaged in such activities and has also managed to recover Rs 26 crore from them so far.
"We have started the recovery process and so far we have recovered Rs 26 crore in the last one year. We will do more... This will be returned to the people," Sebi Chairman U K Sinha said here today.
Speaking here at a function to mark silver jubilee celebrations of the Tamil Nadu Investors Association (TIA), Sinha said Sebi has also undertaken a campaign to create awareness about unauthorised money collection schemes.
With powers to act against any unregulated entity having collected more than Rs Rs 100 crore, Sebi first stops such unauthorised money collection schemes from raising any money, which is followed by further action, Sinha said.
"We ban them from raising money. And then we give them an opportunity and after that we pass an order for recovery. If they do not pay with interest, we normally give them 3-6 months and if they do not comply, then we have powers to recover. Earlier, we had to go to courts for recovery, but now we can recover on our own," he added.
"You may have noticed that people are very creative in the way they launch a scheme. In Tamil Nadu, about three years back, somebody tried to launch a scheme for Emu bird farming," Sinha said, while adding that there are such schemes in other parts of the country as well, mainly in the Eastern Region.
Sebi has passed orders against 250 such companies in the last few years, he added.
The Sebi chief also urged the TIA members to inform the regulator if they come across any illegal schemes.
