Investor Helpline was launched on 8 September 2006 to handle grievances administered by Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Investor grievances, especially those related to listed companies, arise due to inherent weaknesses in the system. At Investor Helpline, we believe that this can be improved by careful attention to handling procedures.

In the last year, that attention, coupled with follow-up or self-driven actions by authorities such as the ministry, Sebi, stock exchanges and Registrar of Companies, has made some impact in increasing customer confidence.

However, that does not mean that investors are not being taken for a ride. In the past one year, we received about 3,000 complaints against 1,000 or so companies. These complaints were in connection with fixed deposits, dividends, share transfers, IPOs and even non-receipt of annual returns.

What is shocking is that many complaints, like dispatch of annual reports or change in address, which can be solved in minutes, took the maximum time to be resolved.

We have now managed to put in place a mechanism in some companies to handle consumer complaints. We had to fight for the appointment of nodal officers; we even had to put pressure on some companies through the stock exchanges.

In the process, awareness among investors has also gone up. The number of grievances filed has gone up from 201 when we started, to 593 in September 2007.

By Virendra Jain, Director, Investor Helpline