Bhubaneswar: The Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA), towards fulfillment of its mandate, organized a State Level Conference on Investor Education and Awareness at Bhubaneswar. The conference was organized in association with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). The conference involved participation from various financial institutions, Professional Institutes and various organizations working in the field of investor education. State of Odisha had been chosen as a first venue state by Investor Education and Protection Authority in its series of such conferences in various States.
The conference was inaugurated by Shri Asit Kumar Tripathy, IAS, Chief Secretary and Chief Development Commissioner, Govt. of Odisha. Shri Injeti Srinivas, IAS, Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Chairman IEPFA delivered the theme address during the inaugural session. Among others Shri Madhusudan Padhi, IAS, Principal Secretary to Hon’ble Governor of Odisha, Shri Prafulla P. Chhajed, President ICAI, Shri Rajib Sekhar Sahoo, Member IEPFA and Shri Prakash Sharma, Central Council Member (CCM) and Chairman, Committee on Capital Market and Investors Protection, ICAI were present as guest of honour.
Speaking onto this occasion Shri Tripathy firstly thanked all for their hearty cooperation for organizing such an informative and valuable conference. He further said good collaboration between the state and central government will successfully lead the country towards economic development. Odisha is a state full of metals and minerals. Almost 30% of minerals in India can be found in Odisha. So to spread awareness among public about the investment policy is a great concern carried out by IEFPA. Eventually he said in the context of rural economic growth, investor education is most important. So now the time has come to create awareness among the public on the investor education.
In his address Shri Srinivas thanked all for arranging such a fruitful conference. He also said such type of event is a perfect mix of all representatives from various sectors under one roof. He informed that after the enactment of Companies Act 2013, IEFPA was set up in 2014. When IEFPA was started at that time it had only two major functions. In this digital age to meet peoples’ requirement everything should have to be done in online. The process used in IEFPA system is an end to end online process. Such process is very transparent. He further said for development you need investment, for investments you need to borrow and for borrow you need to sell. Sustainable investment is a major challenge for us because we have large number of regulators, intermediates and legislatures in this system. Also we have a heterogeneous people and society. To aware more people about investor principles we need to develop a network and should use the power of technology to curtail fraudulent activities during investment policy.
In his deliberation Shri Padhi gave thanks to all the associates for organizing such an informative conference. Further he read out the Governor’s message for this conference in absence of His Excellency, Hon’ble Governor of Odisha, Professor Ganeshi Lal.
The Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPF Authority) has been established under the provisions of Companies Act, 2013 to inter-alia promote investors’ education, awareness and protection. The Authority is entrusted with the responsibility of administration of the Investor Education Protection Fund (IEPF), make refunds of shares, unclaimed dividends, matured deposits/debentures etc. to investors. As a part of its mandate, the Authority organizes investor awareness programmes in the urban areas through the Professional Institutes and in rural areas through the Common Service Centres located in village Panchayats apart from utilizing the print and electronic media for creating awareness.
Eminent speaker Prof. Bejon Kumar Misra, Founder Consumer, Online Foundation, New Delhi delivered an express talk on Aware Consumer is a Protected Investor. The conference was spread over two technical sessions wherein eminent panelists deliberated on subjects like Investor Awareness & Protection in India and Global Experiences, Wealth creation over long term, IEPF procedures and grievance redressal mechanism, financial inclusion through financial literacy, etc.
Shri Manoj Pandey, Joint Secretary, MCA and CEO IEPF Authority informed that the importance of financial literacy and investor protection is gaining momentum among policy makers. In this process, the IEPF Authority and its partnering organizations are committed that efforts would be made to undertake massive awareness campaigns across the country to help people manage money more effectively to achieve financial well-being by accessing appropriate financial products and services through regulated entities with fair and transparent machinery. These efforts will help in building a financially aware and empowered India.
The Conference was attended by more than 500 delegates from all over the State including delegates from Institute of Company Secretaries of India, Institute of Cost Accountants of India, FICCI, CII, RBI, Chamber of Commerce, Gram Panchayat representatives, VLEs (Village level entrepreneurs of CSC e Governance and youth volunteers from Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan).
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