What do you do if your demat agency sells off your shares to recover charges it had debited in your account? What if your share broker executes a trade without permission? Or the IPO shares you bought never find their way into your account?
Arun Kumar, one day, found that his demat agency had auctioned off some of his shares to recover account charges of a few hundred rupees.
Repeated complaints to the demat agency elicited this reply: "This is what we routinely do." Kumar neither had the time to take up the matter nor a clue how to go about it.
If it happens to you, don't follow Kumar's example. Complaining takes just a few clicks.
Sebi has streamlined its online complaint redressal system. "A facility to check up the complaint status online is being made available for investors on the website," says R K Nair, executive director, Securities and Exchange Board of India.
One has to log on to Sebi's website and go to "complaints form" under the "investor guidance" section. No documents are required; you get a reference number (to quote).
Sebi has classified the complaint forms in twelve categories, and promises swift action. In fact, Sebi claims to have sorted out 527 complaints of the 1,199 filed during the last fortnight of April.
This is a matter of growing importance, now with some 76.6 lakh demat accounts (one for every individual now, presumably, after the recent fiasco) registered with the National Securities Depository Limited, and another 17.3 lakh accounts with the Central Securities Depository Limited.
Rumbles of discontent are but to be expected. For its part, Sebi takes up the complaints with the companies or intermediaries involved.
"Many a times," says a Sebi official, "we are able to resolve the complaint just by calling up the company. The complaints are treated as 'resolved' only after adequate evidence of redressal is provided by the company."
Companies or intermediaries are required to submit an "action taken report" on every gripe.
Of course, some complaints turn into litigation battles, and others take quite some time resolving. But don't lose patience.
Investors can complain by writing to Sebi by post as well. Or by visiting any Sebi office; there's a head office and three regional offices. There's a phone-in option too, and Sebi promises that this will be a responsive complaints channel.
In fact, Sebi has set up a separate office dedicated to handling investor education and grievances: office of investor assistance and education. This office functions under an executive director with a staff of around 40 people.
So the next time you run into an errant market player, don't get angry - get even.
