Chief Secretary B.K Agarwal has stressed on conducting more financial literacy camps in the state in coordination with RBI and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to make the public aware about financial frauds. He was speaking while presiding over the State Level Coordination Committee (SLCC) meeting, here today.He said that workshops on financial literacy would be organised at all three division level in which faculty of RBI and SEBI would sensitize the Deputy Commissioners, Superintendents of Police, representatives of Legal Service Authority and Public Prosecutors and other stake holders.He said that Lead District Managers (LDMs) should coordinate with respective DCs to organise awareness camps in rural areas and also associate in pre- Jan Manch activities which was proving a big success in redressal of public grievances. He said that a slot of ten minutes for financial literacy could be provided to the personnel of RBI and SEBI during Jan Manch which was held on first Sunday of every month in each district.B.K. Agarwal said that special workshops should be organised for the employees who were retiring shortly and for those persons whose land was being acquired for four-laning in the state as they were vulnerable towards financial frauds. He asked the RBI and SEBI to coordinate with Himachal Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) and other departments to incorporate financial literacy in their training modules and workshops.
The Chief Secretary directed the regulators to issue cautionary messages through SMS gateway, local TV channels, Radio and local dailies of the state to protect the interests of gullible investors against misleading advertisements and unsolicited calls regarding various fraudulent schemes offered by unscrupulous and unincorporated bodies.It was informed in the meeting that at present there is no authorized Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) to accept deposits in Himachal Pradesh. It was also informed that RBI participated in Kullu Dusshera and put up a stall for seven days for public awareness. It was revealed that Sachet website of RBI has received around 2000 complaints in the country relating to fictitious offers like offer of cheap loans, asking for processing fees on the pretext of loans, offer of high rate of interests on deposits and offer through fake lottery schemes out of which 22 complaints pertained to Himachal which were forwarded to DGP for further necessary action. Regional Director, RBI Rachna Dikshit said that SLCC forum was constituted to bring all the regulatory and law enforcing agencies at one platform and adopt a consultative and coordinated approach in the matters pertaining to unauthorized acceptance of deposits by unincorporated bodies in the state who take advantage of regulatory gaps and succeed in luring the common man.Regional Manager, RBI, Chandigarh Dr. Devi Prasad Panda conducted the proceedings.ACS Anil Khachi, Principal Secretary Yashwant Singh Chogal, Director, Elementary Education Rohit Jamwal, Regional Director, SEBI Sunil Kadam, Additional Director Registrar (Chit Fund) Sushma Watts, Manger, NHB Sharat Bhattacharya, SP Crime State CID Arijit Sen Thakur and other officers of the state government participated in the meeting.