
Amendments to Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill
Why is it in the news?
- In order to deal with illegal deposit taking activities, the Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2018.
- These changes are based on the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Finance (SCF).
More about the scheme
- The Bill provides for severe punishment and pecuniary fines to act as deterrent for such illicit activities.
- It also has adequate provisions for disgorgement or repayment of deposits in cases where such schemes nonetheless manage to raise deposits illegally.
- A large number of such instances have been reported from the eastern part of the country.
- The Bill completely bans deposit takers from promoting, advertising or accepting deposits in any unregulated scheme.
- Three types of offences have been captured in the proposed law:(1) Running of Unregulated Deposit Schemes.(2) Fraudulent default in Regulated Deposit Schemes.(3) Wrongful inducement in relation to Unregulated Deposit Schemes.
- The Bill also provides for attachment of properties and assets of the deposit taker and subsequent realisation of assets for repayment to depositors.
- It will enable creation of an online central database, for collection and sharing of information on deposit-taking activities in India.
Source
Indian Express.