The CBI has
registered 72 cases, including one preliminary enquiry, related to ponzi
schemes during the last 3 years, the government said on July 21, 2015.
Three cases were registered in 2015 (till June
30, 2015) while 62 were registered in 2013. The central probe agency had
registered 7 such cases in 2013.
The information was given by Minister of State
for Finance Mr. Jayant Sinha in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI), ponzi
schemes are not under its regulatory preview and also it has not come across
any such scheme floated by NBFC registered with the central bank, he said
further.
"Further, the words 'ponzi schemes' are not
defined in law in India. However, the regulators have been receiving complaints
about entities collecting money from public allegedly in violation of
law," Mr. Sinha said.
Sinha also said the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
has assigned 139 cases pertaining to the so called 'chit fund' companies to
Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) for investigation.
"Investigations reveal that these companies
were operating mostly in the Eastern and North-Eastern States of the country
and had intensive network of branches spread across these states," Mr.
Sinha said.
To quicken the investigation process, Computer
Forensic Lab has been set up in SFIO for analysing the database of companies
under probe, he added.
Further, Mr. Sinha said a high level
Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) has been constituted for identifying gaps in the
existing regulatory framework for deposit taking activities.
The IMG has also been tasked to suggest
administrative/ legislative measures including formulation of a new law to
cover all relevant aspects of 'deposit taking'.
A typical ponzi scheme involves the operator
collecting a large amount of money from investors &paying them returns from
their own pockets or the money collected from subsequent investors, rather than
from profit earned by the person or the entity operating such a scheme.
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