Transacting on the stock markets is a complex activity and leaves even the most hardened investor in a slightly muddled state. The juggling between trading accounts, demat accounts, dealing with the market intermediaries, making sure that you are not cheated out of your due entitlements of dividends, rights, bonuses etc. and to ensure that the various communiqués from the companies in your portfolios reach you is an onerous task.
A disciplined investor would have no difficulty in keeping track of all the above. But more often than not, we wake up to the fact that we have missed a bonus or a dividend only when it is too late. Fortunately, we do not live in a land of barbarians where naïve and absent-minded investors have no venue of redressal. There are several bodies that exist mainly to oversee the smooth functioning of the capital markets and to protect investor's interest.
The first such organisation is the Securities and Exchanges Board of India. The SEBI Web site has online investor grievance forms for a plethora of complaints that can be easily filled by the investors. The Internet link is http://investor.SEBI.gov.in/
Before filing a complaint with SEBI, the investor should make an attempt to clarify the matter with the company or the intermediary concerned. Only when the investor is unable to extract a satisfactory response from the erring person/company should he approach SEBI.
SEBI can take a company to task in issues relating to issue and transfer of stocks and debentures, non-payment of dividend, not delivering the letter of offer for rights etc. In addition to taking action against the companies listed on the exchanges, complaints pertaining to misconduct by market intermediaries such as brokers, sub-brokers, merchant bankers, banker to the issue, registrar and transfer agents, underwriters, credit rating agencies can also be registered on the Web site.
Investors in other instruments such as mutual funds, venture capital funds, portfolio management schemes can also bring their grievances to SEBI's notice through this mode.