Sebi Resolves 4,000+ Complaints via SCORES in March

New Delhi, Apr 14 (PTI) Capital markets regulator Sebi has disposed of 4,371 complaints in March through its grievance redressal facilitation SCORES platform.

The regulator said three complaints were pending for more than three months on SCORES as of March-end involving entities Madhuveer Com18 Network Ltd and Nikhil Dayanand Baljekar.

According to the Sebi data, complaints pending as on February 28 stood at 4,376.

In March, the market regulator received 4,156 fresh complaints, and a total of 4,161 complaints remained unresolved as of March 31, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a public notice on April 11.

The regulator also highlighted that the average resolution time taken by the entities to submit action taken reports (ATRs) in March was nine days.

Under the upgraded SCORES 2.0 framework, complaints are automatically forwarded to the entity concerned, which is given 21 days to submit an ATR to the investor.

If dissatisfied, investors can opt for a first-level review within 15 days. During this period, complaints remain on the pending list, even if an ATR has been submitted. If the investor continues to be unsatisfied, they can escalate the issue to a second-level review by the regulator, with the same timeline for resolution applying, Sebi said.

Further, the complaints can also be disposed of if an investor opts for the Online Disputes Redressal (ODR) mechanism, it added.

In a separate public notice, Sebi said three complaints involving two entities were pending for more than three months on SCORES as on March 31.

Launched in June 2011, SCORES was designed to help investors lodge their complaints online with Sebi, pertaining to the securities market, against companies, intermediaries and market infrastructure institutions.

In April last year, the regulator launched the platform's new version, SCORES 2.0, with additional features.