Green signal

New Delhi, Aug. 6: The Lok Sabha today approved the crucial Sebi bill aimed at tackling the Ponzi menace, with the government saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon announce a financial scheme that will discourage people from being allured by fraudulent operators.

The Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2014, has been brought in the backdrop of lakhs of small investors being duped by fraudulent investment schemes.

The new law will empower Sebi investigators to conduct searches and seek information from suspected entities, both within and outside the country.

However, as a safeguard, any search operation can be conducted only after the approval of a designated court in Mumbai, where Sebi headquarters is based.

Replying to the debate on the bill, finance minister Arun Jaitley said, “Where there is money there are bound to be some sharks... You would have stray cases and it deals with them when strong regulatory mechanism is required.”

He said one of the ways to deal with the menace of Ponzi scheme was to expand the reach of banking system to save gullible investors from such schemes.

“The Prime Minister in the next few days is likely to announce that scheme (financial inclusion) and once banking expands in this country to almost cover as many people as possible, we intend reaching at least two more account holders in 7.5 crore families,” he said.