Cabinet clears ordinance to check unregulated deposit schemes

New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the promulgation of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance, 2019 to prevent chit fund scams and protect small investors.

"The proposed Ordinance will immediately tackle the menace of illicit deposit taking activities in the country launched by rapacious operators, which at present are exploiting regulatory gaps and lack of strict administrative measures to dupe poor and gullible people of their hard-earned savings," an official statement said.

The ordinance will altogether ban unregulated deposit taking schemes, also called Ponzi schemes, and have adequate provisions for punishment and disgorgement or repayment of deposits in cases where such schemes somehow manage to raise deposits illegally, it said.

On February 6, the Cabinet had decided to amend the law based on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee that went into the provisions of the Bill.

Any person running such deposit schemes without registration would attract penal provisions of the law. Advertisements of such unregistered schemes and brand ambassadors of such schemes would also be covered in this measure.

The decision to amend the law came amid a storm over investigations in the Saradha and Rose Valley chit fund schemes that rocked West Bengal and other states and triggered a political war between the Trinamool Congress government in the state and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

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