Govt to analyse data on unpaid investor money lying with firms

In its efforts to protect the interest of investors, the Corporate Affairs Ministry plans to analyse data on unpaid and unclaimed money lying with various companies, besides drawing up a list of entities that are non-compliant with such norms.

The Ministry's plan is part of initiatives aimed at promoting investor education and awareness for growth of corporate sector in the country.

The Ministry is planning "analysis of data/information uploaded by companies about unpaid/unclaimed amounts of the investors lying with the companies for up to seven years and to finalise a list of non compliant companies", according to an official document.

Against the backdrop of rising incidence of corporate misdoings, the Ministry would also be providing easier access for investors to keep a track of cases pending against a company or its director.

In this regard, it would be providing a search facility on MCA 21 - the Ministry's key portal for stakeholders - whereby investors can "obtain details of prosecution cases pending against a company or director". The proposed search facility is expected to be ready by the end of this year.

Besides, the Ministry would soon be finalising the "Data Dissemination Policy" for companies registered in the country. In a recent interview, Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot had said that the ministry would set up an intelligence unit that would delve into 'data mining' from all possible sources to detect any wrongdoings by the companies and their promoters at the earliest possible stage.

"In the Ministry, we are setting up an intelligence unit. It is at a nascent stage. We would be putting technical people with lot of experience and expertise on the job and these would be the people who can mine the data," he had said.The idea is to have a set of people to do the data mining, collection and checking of records that is available on various platforms, and then link them with the inputs from investigating agencies, the Minister had said.Pilot had also added that information needed to detect possible corporate frauds at an early stage is generally available on one or the other platform, and what is actually needed is that "we have to have the sense to mine it". The Corporate Affairs Ministry is mainly concerned with administration of the Companies Act, 1956.

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