The Hindu Business Line : Morepen Lab tops investors' complaint list

WITH the Ministry of Company Affairs toning up its system for faster disposal of investor complaints, companies that have defaulted in their commitments made to the public while mobilising funds have come in for a severe scrutiny.

Leading the chart of top 20 companies against which highest number of investors complaints are pending with the Ministry for the period April 1, 2003 - March 31, 2004, is Morepen Lab Ltd, followed by DCM Financial Services Ltd.

The total number of complaints pending against Morepen Lab for the period was 1,143. Investors' complaints pending against DCM Financial Services were 1,096.

When asked what were the actions taken against these companies, official sources said the Ministry had already initiated prosecutions against Morepen before the appropriate authorities after undertaking inspections of books of accounts of the company.

Further, the complaint against DCM Financial Services has been forwarded to the Reserve Bank of India, as it was a non-banking financial company (NBFC), sources said.

DCM Ltd is positioned at the third place with 864 complaints. The Ministry has launched prosecutions against the company.

Hindustan Development Corporation Ltd and Essar Oil also feature in the top five . The Ministry has ordered inspections of books of accounts of these companies, sources said.

"Wrong doers will not be let off lightly. In the National Common Minimum Programme of the Government, special emphasis has been laid on protecting interests of small investors. To enable this, the Ministry has worked out a strategy, which includes increasing investor awareness and faster response to investor complaints," the Minister for State (Independent Charge) for Company Affairs, Mr Prem Chand Gupta, told Business Line.

Some of the other companies that find themselves in the list include Onida Finance Ltd, Mafatlal Finance Co Ltd, Pentafour Products Ltd and Prudential Capital Market Ltd.

With a view to improving the present system of lodging of complaints against companies and their processing, the Ministry has earlier this month launched an online investor grievance redressal system to enable online filing of grievances.

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