With rising inflation and decreasing bank interest rates, investors need to search for investment avenues which can beat inflation and help investors attain their financial goals. Mutual funds are a preferred investment option for Indians because of their various benefits. However, while investing you can face issues with the services provided by your Asset Management Companies, a default of dividend payment or others, you can file a complaint with the mutual fund company itself or with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
As a mutual fund investor, it is better to know how to get your complaints addressed and resolved. There are two stages of filing the complaint – with the mutual fund company and, at the later stage, with SEBI.
Read here: Things To Know Before Investing In Mutual Funds
Stage 1: Registering complaint to the mutual fund company:
If you have a complaint regarding your mutual fund investments, firstly, you should address it to the mutual fund via its customer care or its respective complaint redressal system. In most cases, either one of these methods would be enough to resolve your issue.
However, if you are not satisfied with their response, you can approach SEBI Complaints Redressal System (SCORES), the regulator’s investor grievance mechanism. SEBI takes up complaints related to issue and transfer of securities and non-payment of dividend with listed companies, in addition to complaints against various intermediaries registered with it.
Stage 2: Registering complaint to SEBI Complaints Redressal System (SCORES)
SCORES is an online platform to help investors to lodge their complaints, ranging from mutual funds to securities market, online with SEBI. Complaints covered under the SEBI Act, Securities Contract Regulation Act, Depositories Act and relevant provisions under the Companies Act, 2013 can be lodged on the platform.
To file a complaint on SCORES, you need to register yourself on the platform with your name, address, PAN and mobile number.
Steps to lodge a complaint on SCORES:
1. Register yourself on the platform by clicking “Register here” under “Investor Corner” on the homepage of the website.
2. After successful registration, login to the portal. Click on “Complaint Registration” under “Investor Corner”.
3. Provide the details and select the accurate complaint category namely mutual funds, entity name, and nature of the complaint.
4. Investors must provide complaint details in brief (up to 1000 characters).
5. Provide a brief of details within 1000 characters.
6. You can also upload a supporting document, up to 2MB of size in PDF format, for each nature of complaint.
7. After successful submission, a system-generated unique registration number will be displayed on the screen which may be noted for future correspondence.
Once the complaint is filed, it is forwarded to the concerned authority which is required to give a written reply or file an action within 30 days of filing the complaint.
Read here: Things you should consider when investing in international mutual funds
You can even track the status of your complaint by logging in to your account on the portal. After logging in, you can see your registration number on the account page. Click on ‘View Complaint Status’ to know the status. Once the complaint is addressed, SEBI will close the complaint.
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