
NEW DELHI, June 27: Twenty four Non-Banking Finance Companies are under investigation for possible violations of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act. The Directorate General of Investigation and Registration, a statutory body under the Act has sent notices to these companies for what are prima facie cases of improbable and misleading promises. These investigations of NBFCs may prevent the occurrence of more scams like CRB, in which investors lost a lot of their money.
All these companies, most of them not registered with the Reserve Bank of India, have promised returns in the range of 24 to 40 per cent per annum. In one instance the return promised is as high as 45 per cent.
These companies have been under investigation for the past few months, cases against them are likely to be filed in the MRTP Commission in the next couple of weeks. The companies were asked by the DGIR to sent details of the money they have raised from the investors, the names and addresses of investors and also explain the method through which they expected to manage such high returns. They were also asked to show where they have invested the money raised from the investors. But in their reply, the companies have given very sketchy answers and avoided giving specific details.
Says DGIR A.K. Sharma, 8220;Making unrealisable promises of high returns to investors is an offence under the MRTP Act. Once the investigations reveal any violations of the MRTP Act, we will file cases against them.8221;
The investigations against them were launched suo motu under the Act by the DGIR.