The Central Government created the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) to secure shareholders’ rights and inform people. Section 125 of the Companies Act of 2013 governs it (the “Act”). The investor education and protection fund authority collects and deposits undisclosed or unclaimed monies from a company’s investors. 

INVESTOR EDUCATION AND PROTECTION FUND AUTHORITY ADMINISTRATION AND REGULATION 

The investor education and protection fund authority is administered by the investor education and protection fund authority, which consists of a chairman, a chief executive officer, and up to 7 other officials appointed by the Central Government. The IEPF Authority oversees the IEPF resources and keeps accounting records and other relevant documentation as necessary after conferring with the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India. The sums gathered to the investor education and protection fund authority in line with the Act’s provisions are the revenues of the IEPF.

The investor education and protection fund authority should only use and distribute investor education and protection fund authority for the reasons laid forth in the Act. The CAG of India will analyze the IEPF’s records. Once a year, the investor education and protection fund authority will give the Central Government inspected finances and an independent audit.

The IEPF Board will also submit an annual report for every financial year, which would include a detailed explanation of its activities and will be sent to the Central Govt. The Central Government must present the investor education and protection fund authority financial statement, as well as the audit report of the CAG of India, to every House of Parliament.

Funds Deposited to the IEPF Fund

Underneath the Act, the relevant funds will be allocated to the IEPF:

• When House has granted the appropriate funds for them to be utilised for the objectives indicated in the Act, the sum granted by the Central Government as grants.
• The federal government, companies, state governments, and other organisations make donations to the IEPF for use in compliance with the Act’s stipulations.
• The sum is moved to the investor education and protection fund authority from a company’s unpaid dividend account after it has been unpaid/unclaimed for seven years from the transfer date. The IEPF will receive the unpaid dividend account amount as well as any accrued interest.
• Those stocks where a dividend has still not been issued or received for 7 years or more have to be transferred to the investor education and protection fund authority, along with a statement describing the facts.
• Per Section 205A(5) of the Companies Act, 1956, an amount was allocated to the Central Government’s general revenue fund that was unpaid or unpaid at the moment the Companies Act, 2013 was adopted.
• The money kept in the Investor Education and Protection Fund is exempt from taxation under Section 205C of the Companies Act, 1956. (IEPF).
• The interest or other income generated by the investor education and protection fund authority‘s investments.
• The company is owed a return of the application costs collected upon stock allocation.
• Deposits that had matured with companies other than banks went unreported and unacknowledged for 7 years after they were scheduled to be refunded.

How IEPF Amount is Utilized

The IEPF Authority should only use and utilize investor education and protection fund authority for the specified objectives, per the Act: 

• Refunds for mature debt securities, deposits, unclaimed profits, and the application money that is due for repayment and its interest.
• Investor education, training, and security are all encouraged.
• Per Sections 37 and 245 of the Statute, the National Company Law Tribunal has allowed compensation of lawyer expenses spent by debenture holders, shareholders, or investors in filing class-action lawsuits.
• The disintegrated cash is delivered to recognized and authorized candidates for debentures or shares, debenture holders, shareholders, or depositors who have suffered losses as a result of any person’s misconduct, according to court rulings of disgorgement. The disgorged amount is the money received through the sale or disgorgement of securities.
• Any additional goal that isn’t connected to the ones listed above.

What Are The Refund of Amounts Credited to IEPF

Any person or shareholder whose unpaid or unclaimed money has been shifted by the corporation from the unpaid dividend account to the IEPF will be reimbursed by the investor education and protection fund authority. According to Section 125(3)(a) of the Law and Regulation 7(1) of the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Finance, Auditing, Moving, and Compensation) Regulations, 2016, they can seek a refund.

The company deposits the outstanding or unfilled funds of the shareholders in the unpaid dividend account to the IEPF for the following seven years. Shareholders, on the other hand, can submit Form IEPF-5 to the IEPF Authority to obtain a refund of their payments to the IEPF. They must submit the necessary documents, as well as Form IEPF-5, in order to get compensation.

Stock holders should fill out Form IEPF-5 on the IEPF website to obtain payment for unclaimed funds. They must fill out the form, upload it to the IEPF website, and email it to the company’s Nodal Officer (IEPF) at corporate headquarters together with the necessary paperwork.

The documents and the Form IEPF-5 will be verified by the relevant company. Depending on the firm’s verification report, the IEPF Board will digitally communicate the refund to claimants’ (shareholders’) Aadhaar-linked investment accounts.

The post How Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority is Regulated in India appeared first on MUDS.

In this post, we’ll look at how to register a business in Kolkata. Company registration is a procedure through which all businesses are registered on the MCA’s website (Ministry of Corporate Affairs). The Company Registration in Kolkata is a simple procedure, but it requires numerous procedures to complete.

A Private Limited Company offers its stockholders legal protection and limited liability. A privaely held limited firm must have at least positions two working directors. A person can be both a director and a shareholder in a Private Limited Company. After receiving a Certificate of Incorporation, a Private Limited Company (PLC) can begin operations. Within 15 days following its application, a PLC can be implemented.

As a result, we will concentrate on the advantages and procedures of forming a Private Limited Company registrationin Kolkata in this post.

Advantages of forming a private firm company registration in Kolkata

1. A private limited company might have anything from two to fifty directors.
2. It is a legal autonomous body.
3. Directors have limited liability and are not directly responsible for the company’s operations.
4. Directors are only partially liable to creditors.
5. In the event of a default, the bank or creditors will sell the company’s assets rather than personal property.
6. The directors are eligible for tax benefits.
7. Suing or being sued in the name of a registered corporation is possible.
8. Companies that are registered have a higher chance of borrowing money.

Company Registration in Kolkata: Private Company Incorporation Checklist

• Directors: For private company registration in Kolkata, a minimum of two directors is required, with one of them being a resident director.
• The investment must be made in accordance with the business type, and there is no minimum capital investment necessary for a firm.
• Inventive business name: The name of the firm must not be identical or confusingly similar to that of another company.
• Registered address: Every business should have one.

Steps for Incorporation of the Company

The following are the stages of forming a business using the RUN form:

1. After that, create a login account and log in.
2. Enter the name you want to use and cross-reference it with the MCA database.
3. If an established business wants to reverse its name, a CIN will be requested through the RUN e- form.
4. The applicant must specify the name that he or she wishes to keep on file in case the firm’s name is changed or a new company is formed.
5. Then he or she must submit the prospective company’s objects as well as any additional documents in support of the suggested name.

Limited Name Validity

• For a new corporation, an authorised name is valid for 20 days from the date of approval.
• 60 days after the date of authorization for changing the name of an established corporation.

Steps for Private Company Registration in Kolkata

Step 1: Obtain DSC

Because the process is online, a digital signature is required for the incorporation of a private limited company. Members and executives must have a legitimate Class II or Class III DSC.

Step 2: Fill out an application for a DIN number.

A directors must have a DIN and must apply for one on MCA if he does not already have one. A DIN number can be used to become a director in many businesses.

Step 3: Submit an application for name approval

At the time of establishment, the company’s name, as well as SPICe (INC-32) must be submitted for approval. If the name is rejected, it can be resubmitted.

Step 4: e-MoA (INC-33) and e-AoA are the fourth and final steps (INC-34)

Previously, MoA and AoA had to be filed physically, but now they must be filed online on the MCA website. These papers must be digitally signed by the subscribers.

Step 5: PAN and TAN applications

After all of the paperwork have been completed, the applicant should consider applying for a PAN and TAN.

Step 6: Certificate of Incorporation 

MCA & RoC will analyse all of the documentation and issue a Certificate of Incorporation if they are pleased. The Certificate of Incorporation is a legal document that grants the firm legal standing.

7th Step: Open bank Accounts

The firm must create a bank account for any transactions in its name after receiving the certificate of incorporation.

In order to register a company in Kolkata, you’ll need the following documents

Documents required for company registration  in Kolkata:

1. For DSC 
2. DIN (Director Identification Number)
3. Incorporation of a Business

In the case of DSC,

1. Along with the DSC application form, the following papers must be forwarded:
2. The claimant’s photograph (to be stamped across with a blue pen)
3. The director’s address proof (s)
4. Id Proof (Pan Card) of the applicant Passport Aadhar card Driving licence Voter Id card Email Id and contact number (for each director)

DIN

Fill out the e-form DIR -3, which is available on the MCA website. Alongside Form DIR -3, attach the supporting information:

1. Id proof photo of the applicant (attested)
2. Proof of address (attested)
3. Make the payment as directed. The only way to pay is on the internet.
4. There will be a preliminary DIN created.
5. A preliminary DIN becomes an authorised DIN after verification.

• For a Firm’s Registration
• The Firm’s Title
• The firm’s assets
• Investors’ list
• The director’s Id proof is the company’s purpose (s)

1. Aadhar card and passport
2. Id cards for voters and driver’s licence
3. Director’s proof of residence (s)
4. Bank statement Telephone bill
5. The cost of electricity
6. Mobile phone bill (not old than two months)
7. INC-9 Director(s) Consent (form DIR-2) (Affidavit)

• Proof of the registered office’s address

1. Bills of Gas, 
2. Phone, and
3. Electricity

If the office is included in the lease, the lease agreement and a letter of authorization from the owner are required.

Holders of DINs declare themselves

A Private Limited Company Registration in Kolkata is an online operation that should be completed with caution, and once completed, the directors are entitled to all of the privileges of a Private Limited Company.

The post Private Limited Company Registration in Kolkata Via Online Method appeared first on MUDS.

Releases from the RBI Monetary Policy 2022 Meeting: The six-member Monetary Policy 2022 Committee (MPC), led by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das, maintained the repo rate at 4% and the reverse repo rate at 3.35 % intact. Here’s what the governor of India’s central bank said.

RBI Monetary Policy 2022: The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy 2022 Committee (MPC) retained the repo rate at 4% for the 11th straight approach achieves a ‘affiliative posture,’ according to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday.

The MPC decided unanimously to continue the accommodating approach, according to the central bank governor, and the reverse repo rate was also remained steady at 3.35 percent.

The Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rates and the lending rate were likewise held steady at 4.25 percent.

On May 22, 2020, the RBI reduced its policy repo rate, or short-term lending rate, in an off-policy cycle to boost demand by decreasing interest rates to a historic low.

In a press conference following the Monetary Policy 2022 meeting, Das stated that the RBI will return the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) corridor to 50 basis points (bps), as it was pre-Covid. The MSF rate and the bank rate remain at 4.25 percent.

“It also agreed to remain accommodating while concentrating on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation remains within the goal moving ahead, while encouraging expansion,” 

-he added on the central bank’s attitude.

” It will continue to be part of the RBI’s toolbox, and its use will be at the discretion of the RBI for objectives that are indicated from time to time. The FRRR, in conjunction with the SDF, will increase the flexibility of the RBI’s liquidity management framework.”

The RBI reduced its growth prediction for the current fiscal year to 7.2 percent from 7.8 percent previously, while increasing its inflation forecast to 5.7 percent from 4.5 percent.

He went on to say that, given the inordinate volatility in international oil prices as of early February, as well as the extreme uncertainty surrounding the evolving geopolitical tensions, any projection of growth and inflation is fraught with risk, and is largely dependent on future oil and commodity price developments.

Das addressed liquidity and financial market circumstances in his speech, stating that the RBI will continue to take a sophisticated and agile approach to liquidity risk management while preserving appropriate liquidity in the system.

“At the moment, liquidity management is distinguished by two procedures: variable rate reverse repo (VRRR) bids of varied maturities to swallow liquidity, and variable rate repo (VRR) auctions to fill temporary liquidity problems and offset anomalies.” “We will keep taking this strategy,” he stated.

ATM cash withdrawal without a card that is interoperable

In an effort to combat fraud, the Reserve Bank of India agreed on Friday to allow all banks to use card-less cash withdrawal through ATMs. Currently, card-less cash withdrawal via ATMs is a permissible form of transaction allowed by a few banks in the nation on an as-needed basis (for their customers at their own ATMs).

Economic experts and market analysts reacted as follows:

• The severe reduction in GDP forecasts for FY23 and significant increase in inflation expectations for FY23 might suggest some tightening measures in the future, which would be supported by the shift in posture to focus on withdrawal of accommodation. Current geopolitical developments, supply chain concerns, and commodity price increases are tying the RBI’s hands and pushing it to progressively turn hawkish, despite its desire to maintain its pro-growth perspective. The 10-year Gsec yield has increased to 7%, showing the street’s worry over the massive borrowing programme in the face of rising interest rates.”
• “Retaining the repo rate at 4% and the reverse repo rate at 3.35 percent, continuing with the accommodating posture on expected lines,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. Recognizing the new reality of increased petroleum prices caused by the war, the RBI cut the FY23 GDP growth rate prediction to 7.2 percent from 7.8 percent before and upped the FY23 CPI inflation projection to 5.7 percent from 4.5 percent previously. This is predicated on the premise that crude will be $100 per barrel. This suggests that if crude falls considerably, which is likely if the conflict ends soon, GDP and inflation will improve.The opposite might be true if the battle escalates and petroleum prices rise well beyond $100. The Governor correctly underscored India’s macroeconomic fundamentals, noting to an improvement in the external position aided by record exports, large foreign reserves of $608 billion, and banking sector development. The SDF (Standing Deposit Facility) is a new mechanism established by the central bank to absorb liquidity. 

“The recent RBI Monetary Policy 2022 did not include any surprises,” stated Nish Bhatt, Founder & CEO of Millwood Kane International, “it held rates constant for the 11th straight policy.” However, it has clearly outlined the road to policy unwinding. The emphasis will now be on withdrawing the accommodating policy stance in order to keep inflation under control. The RBI’s statement today plainly suggests the end of loose Monetary Policy 2022, which is reflected in the 10-year benchmark yield, which has reached a multi-year high. The unwinding of liquidity will cause some instability, and it is expected that the RBI would drop the growth rate prediction for FY23 to 7.2 percent, with the inflation target raised to 5.7 percent from 4.5 percent previously. The explicit goal of central banks throughout the world is to manage inflation, unwind lose money, and concentrate on gradual and steady development.“

The post New Monetary Policy 2022: Repo Rate Remained Unchanged appeared first on MUDS.

Sexual harassment law: The word “workplace” confers to the Sexual harassment at workplace of Women at Workplace (Regulation, Prevention, and Redressal) Posh Act of 2013, and specifically includes:

The post POSH Act: ALL ABOUT THE SEXUAL HARASSMNET LAW IN INDIA appeared first on MUDS.

Do you think 1 share of a company can give you more than ₹ 10 Lakhs? Yes, you read it right! Infosys has done the impossible. If your father or grandpa had bought 10 shares of Infosys during its IPO, then today, the value of those shares would be more than ₹ 1 Crore.

Curious to know about it? Here, I am going to discuss how you could earn a fortune if you just came to know that you owned 10 shares of Infosys in 1993.

About the Company

Infosys is an Indian MNC that provides the services of business consultation, information technology, and outsourcing. It was incorporated in 1981 as a private company. In 1992, it converted into a public company. The very next year, it got listed on the stock exchanges. It is the 2^nd largest Indian IT company after TCS with a market capitalization of ₹2,73,214 Crores. It has been growing exponentially.

It continued to generate profits during the setback of the COVID-19 pandemic and provided dividends to its members. Infosys has provided 2 dividends, in 2020-2021, of ₹12 and ₹ 9.50, accumulating to ₹ 21.5 per share. This means that if you would have purchased 10 shares in 1993, then you could have received a dividend of ₹ 2, 20, 160 in this year alone. You must be wondering how 10 shares could yield the said amount with the dividend of only ₹ 21.5 per share. All thanks to the bonus shares, Infosys has issued from time to time. Below is the calculation that will provide you an explanation.

Calculation

• Imagine that you or any family member in your previous generation has bought 10 Infosys shares during its IPO in 1993.
• The share was issued at ₹ 95. Thus, you invested a total of ₹ 950 in these shares.
• The company, in 1994, issued its first bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1.

[Bonus Shares are issued by the company to its shareholders as fully paid up shares without any cost. In other words, the company by issuing bonus shares gives a gift to its shareholders].

Issuing bonus shares at a 1:1 ratio means, that for every share owned by a shareholder, the company will issue another share in his name. This means that if you had 10 shares in the beginning, it has now become 20 shares.

• In 1997, the company again issued the bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1. Therefore, the 20 shares in your name have now become 40 shares.
• In 1999, the company again issued bonus shares at a 1:1 ratio. Now, your number of shares has increased from 40 to 80.
• The company, in the very next year, in 2000, due to an extreme rise in its share price, split up its stock in the ratio of 2:1.

[A company splits its stock when the share price of the share increases to a great extent and it becomes difficult for the retail investors or small investors to invest in the shares of such companies. By splitting the stocks, the company increases the number of shares in the market while decreasing its price by the same proportion. In this way, there is no change in the net value of the market capital.]

The same thing happened with Infosys. Its stock price shot up to a great height. To reduce the share price, and to make it easier for the retail investors to buy the stock, the company split its stock into 2. This means that for every share, the shareholder got 2 shares, worth half of the original 1 share. In simpler words, earlier, if you had 10 shares of ₹ 100 each, then now you have 20 shares of ₹ 50 each. Thus, no change in the net value of the shares worth ₹ 1, 000.

Due to the stock split, now your shares increased from 80 to 160.

P.S.: Do not confuse it with Bonus Shares. Because unlike Stock Spilt, the price per share does not decrease while issuing Bonus Shares.

• After that, the company has issued bonus shares 5 times to date.
• In 2005, the company issued bonus shares at a 3:1 ratio. This means that for every share owned by a shareholder, the company will issue another 3 shares in his name. This means that if you had 160 shares in the beginning, it has now become 640 shares. (160 Original Shares + 480 Bonus Shares)
• In 2007, the company issued another round of bonus shares at the ratio of 1:1. Now your shares are doubled in the amount. Thus, it has increased to 1, 280 shares.
• After the 8 years, in 2015, the company again issued the bonus shares at the ratio of 1:1. The shareholding of every shareholder got doubled, thus, the shares increased from 1, 280 to 2, 560.
• The very next year, in 2016, the company again issued bonus shares at a 1:1 ratio. Now, your number of shares has increased to 5, 120.
• Infosys last issued the bonus shares in 2019 at the ratio of 1:1. Thus, today, the number of Infosys shares you should own is 10, 240.
• Now, the price of 1 share of Infosys, as of 3^rd December 2020, is ₹ 1, 125. Thus, the value of your shares as of date is,

₹ 1, 125 x 10, 240 shares = ₹ 1, 15, 20, 000 (One Crore Fifteen Lakhs Twenty Thousand)

• The above amount is only the price of the shares. We have not calculated the dividends that you have received so far.
• Infosys is known for sharing its profits with its investors. To date, the company has paid an aggregate dividend of ₹ 722.25 per share.

Source: https://trendlyne.com/equity/Dividend/INFY/630/infosys-ltd-dividend/

Now you can calculate your dividends accordingly.

As you could see, if you had 10 shares of Infosys registered under your name in 1993, then you would have become a Crorepati today. Now the issue is that you are not in the possession of the shares of Infosys though you know that you are the rightful owner of the same. As per the Government’s rule, these shares are now treated as forgotten or lost shares because no one has claimed dividends on them for 7 years or more. Since the dividend remained unclaimed, the shares are now in the possession of the Government of India under the Investor Education and Protection Fund (“IEPF”). It was introduced in 2016 by the Government to resolve the issue of such ‘long lost and forgotten shares’.

About Investor Education and Protection Fund

As stated above, the Government introduced the IEPF to address the ever-increasing problem of people forgetting their shareholdings in a company. The IEPF was launched to promote the protection of interest, and awareness of the investors. The unclaimed dividend and lost shares transferred to this account are taken care of by the Government on behalf of the rightful shareholders. The dividends on the shares remain unclaimed for years because people tend to forget that they own the shares in the first place. There are multiple reasons why people forget about their ownership in a company:

• No Nominee: Usually investors do not appoint a nominee/ heir to take care of the shares after their death. Therefore, the shares remain deserted because the heirs are clueless about their ownership of such shares.
• Small Investments: Generally, the investment is of small amounts due to which an investor forgets about the shares.
• Property Dispute: Shares get attached to the court because proceedings are pending in the courts regarding the property dispute. Thus, the shares remain ownerless till the court’s verdict.

There are many other reasons why an investor forgets about his/ her shareholding in a company. This is the reason why many companies have abundant shares with them with no sign of ownership.

Before the introduction of the IEPF, the companies were required to transfer the unclaimed dividends and unclaimed shares to the government funds. The Government could then use such funds for various public welfare schemes and various developmental works.  Since the problem of people forgetting their shareholdings in a company was increasing, the Government realized that it was causing huge losses for the investors. Therefore, the Government decided to set up the IEPF.  It is a one-stop solution that the government provides to the members of a company. Here, the members can approach the government and claim their dividends. Along with that, they can ask them to refund their long-forgotten shares. The IEPF was initiated while keeping in mind the interests of the shareholders. IEPF protected the investors’ funds while spreading awareness regarding the same.

The Government takes care of the unclaimed dividend and lost shares transferred to this account on behalf of the rightful shareholders. Thus, even after 7 years, investors can claim their dividends and shares from the fund manager by applying to the managing authority. People can claim their dividends and shares of different companies through one platform instead of going to each company individually, that is why IEPF is known as a one-stop solution.

Provisions Governing IEPF

The functioning of IEPF is governed by the Companies Act, 2013 read with the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016. Once a company declares a dividend on the shares, the shareholders get 30 days to claim the said dividend. After 30 days, if the dividends remain unclaimed by the shareholders, then the company, according to the above-stated laws, is obliged to transfer such dividends to a special account. This special account is opened in the name of the company, known as ‘Unpaid Dividend Account’.

After that, the company gets 90 days to publish a list of all the shareholders along with their unclaimed dividends on its website. In addition to this, the company can use any other mode of communication to tell its members about their unclaimed dividends kept with the company. If a shareholder wants to retrieve his unclaimed dividend from the ‘Unpaid Dividend Account’, then he has to file an application to the transfer agent of the company. Despite all these, if a shareholder, for any reason stated above, fails to claim the amount from the company for 7 years, then the company shall transfer such unclaimed dividend to the IEPF Account. The shares on which such dividend was declared will also get transferred to the IEPF for they are considered as forgotten shares. Thus, if the dividends remain unclaimed for 7 years, then the dividend and shares, both get transferred to the IEPF Account.

Unclaimed Dividend & Unclaimed Shares of Infosys

We can see the transfer status of the unclaimed dividend and unclaimed shares to the IEPF from the Annual Reports of a company.

Funds & Shares transferred to the IEPF

According to the Annual Report 2019-2020 of the company, Infosys has transferred the following unpaid dividend and unclaimed shares to the IEPF during the last 3 Fiscal Years:

Source: https://www.infosys.com/investors/reports-filings/annual-report/annual/documents/infosys-ar-20.pdf

The company, in the previous 3 financial years, has transferred Five Crores Thirty-Three Lakhs Fifteen Thousand Eight Hundred Eighty-Nine Rupees (₹ 5, 33, 15, 889/-) of the unclaimed dividend to the IEPF Account.

Along with it, Infosys in 2019 alone, has transferred 8, 424 shares in the IEPF which are worth almost a crore. This is the data for only one year. The IEPF holds 0.1% shares of Infosys which accumulates to 2, 84, 487 shares. It is a huge chunk of unclaimed shares. The shareholders are thus advised to look into their investment history, or the ownership of shares passed on from a deceased family member and claim their dividends and shares from IEPF.

Funds & Shares to be transferred to the IEPF

The Annual Report 2019-2020 also provides the dates by which an investor can approach the Company’s Registrar or the Transfer Agent to claim dividends declared by the company from time to time. It also provides the amount of outstanding unclaimed dividends. After the expiry of the stated dates, Infosys will be forced to transfer the outstanding amounts of dividends, along with the shares, to the IEPF. 

The following table provides the information regarding the amount of dividend issued and the last dates by which the shareholders can claim those dividends.

For shareholders of Infosys:

Source: https://www.infosys.com/investors/reports-filings/annual-report/annual/documents/infosys-ar-20.pdf

The table above provides the deadlines to the shareholders of Infosys, to claim their dividends by applying to the Company’s Registrar or the Transfer Agent. After the due dates, provided in the 4^th column, Infosys will be forced to transfer the dividend funds (provided in the 3^rd column) to the IEPF, along with the respective shares.

An investor can check the status of their lost shares of Infosys, from https://www.infosys.com/investors/shareholder-services/transfer-equity-shares.html

For more information, visit https://www.infosys.com/investors/reports-filings/annual-report/annual/documents/infosys-ar-20.pdf

Unclaimed Shares & Lost Dividend under IEPF

If a shareholder has unclaimed shares and lost dividends in the name of IEPF, then he can approach the IEPF fund manager to refund the amount and transfer back the shares in the name of the claimant. The shareholder does not lose his/ her right over the dividend and the shares. Despite the fact, Infosys still encourages its members to claim the dividends on time from the company itself, to avoid its transfer to the IEPF Account. Infosys does this to avoid its members to go through the tiresome procedure of recovering the money and shares from the IEPF Authority. The fund manager follows this rigorous procedure to ensure that the shares get transferred to the rightful owner only. When shares remain unclaimed for such long periods, i.e., 7 years or more, they become prone to someone fraudulent transactions. Due to this, the fund manager makes thorough investigations before initiating the transfer of the amount and the shares. This thorough investigation makes it a time-consuming procedure and it becomes hard for the members to get back their shares. Hence, Infosys advises its members to claim dividends as it is comparatively easier.

For this purpose, the Nodal Officer, appointed by the company under the rules of IEPF, is A. G. S. Manikantha, Company Secretary has been appointed as the Compliance Officer and the Nodal Officer. To contact the Nodal/ Deputy Nodal Officer of Infosys, write an email to Manikantha_AGS@infosys.com.

Why do You Need Legal Help?

As stated above, the application procedure to claim the refund of unclaimed dividends and lost shares is a difficult process. It requires a certain degree of expertise to file the application to the fund manager. Hiring a legal professional can help you to save yourself from this tedious task. Your legal expert will take care of all the work and formalities required to file the refund application. If there are mistakes in an application, the IEPF authority straight away rejects it, and the claimant has to repeat the whole procedure. Hiring a lawyer will ensure that there are no mistakes in your application so that the procedure goes on smoothly. From contacting the nodal officer to collecting the information to filing the application, the lawyer will take care of everything.

Hiring a lawyer will be extremely helpful if your shares are stuck in a family dispute. As mentioned, sometimes, the shareholder dies without any nominee, and he also forgets to put shares in his will. In such a case, all the family members of the deceased come to claim their right to the deceased’s property, i.e., Infosys Shares. Not hiring a legal expert can cost you a fortune that you are entitled to. Why will people leave shares worth crores? If you are without a lawyer, then the other party will easily take your advantage and you will end up with nothing. A lawyer with the command of the law can protect you from all the loopholes which might go against you and thus, can provide you with the best deal possible.

Conclusion…

As we have seen, Infosys is very generous in issuing bonus shares to its shareholders from time to time. This generosity increased your 10 shares, bought in 1993, to 10, 240 shares in number. The company is growing exponentially every year. Its share price has increased from ₹ 95 to ₹ 1, 125 since its IPO. Therefore, if you just came to know about the existence of Infosys shares in your name, then it is the best time to square your profits. It is advised that you check the tables provided above and find the expiry date by which you can claim the dividend from Infosys. If not already transferred into the IEPF, then apply to the Nodal Officer as soon as possible. However, if your dividend amount and shares are already transferred to the IEPF, then find a legal expert as soon as possible. The legal professional will make your job very easy. He will also come in handy in case you want to fight for the shares stuck in a legal dispute.

The post Recovery of Infosys’ Shares from the IEPF can make you Crorepati Over A Night! appeared first on MUDS.

Shares of Nestle India were floating at a price of more than ₹ 18, 000 per share in the market as of 27^th November 2020. How would you feel if you suddenly come to know that you own some shares of this company? Amazing, right? Even a small number of 6 shares will fetch you an amount of more than ₹ 1 lakh.

Excited to know, how? Here, I am going to discuss how you could earn a fortune if you just came to know that there exist shares of Nestle India Ltd. in your name. If there are long-forgotten shares of Nestle India in the name of IEPF Account, which were in your name, then this blog is for you. 

History of the Company

Nestle India Ltd. is an FMCG (“Fast Moving Consumer Goods”) company that was incorporated in 1959. It is a Large Cap company with a market capitalization of ₹1,72,477.59 Crore (One Lakh Seventy-Two Thousand Four Hundred Seventy-Seven Crores Fifty-Nine Lakh Rupees). As of 31^st December 2018, the company earned revenue of ₹ 11, 294.65 Crores. The key products/ revenue segments that contributed to this revenue are as follows:

Even during the setback of the COVID-19 pandemic, it continued to generate profits due to which its share price kept on increasing. During the pandemic itself, the stock price has increased by ₹ 3, 500. In the last quarter, i.e., the quarter ended 30^th September 2020, the company has reported sales of ₹ 3, 525.41 Crores in the stated quarter alone. This is a 15.91% increase from the previous quarter, i.e., the quarter ended 30^th June 2020. The company has earned a net profit of ₹ 587.09 Crores after the tax deduction in the last quarter only. As per the quarterly report, the company has a total of 9, 64, 15, 716 (Nine Crore Sixty-Four Lakhs Fifteen Thousand Seven Hundred Sixteen) shares outstanding at the end of the last quarter.

Nestle India is known for giving its shareholders handsome dividends. To date, the company has given a total of 60 dividends to its shareholders amounting to ₹ 1, 292.5 per share. And in this year alone, the company has declared a dividend of ₹ 196 per share.

P.S.: This information regarding the dividend is based on the data provided from 2001 onwards.)

If you have 600 shares of Nestle India registered under your name, then the value of those shares as of the day would be in crores. The dividend amount alone would be in lakhs.

Calculation

• Suppose you have 600 shares of Nestle India Ltd. registered under your name.
• Now, the price of 1 share of Nestle India Ltd., as of 27^th November 2020, is ₹ 18, 040. Thus, the value of your shares as of date is,

₹ 18, 040 x 600 shares = ₹ 1, 08, 24, 000 (One Crore Eight Lakhs Twenty-Four Thousand)

• The above amount is only the price of the shares. We have not calculated the dividends that you have received so far.
• The amount of Dividend received so far (from 2001) is,

₹ 1, 292.5 x 600 shares = ₹ 7, 75, 500

• The amount of Dividend received in this financial year is,

₹ 196 x 600 shares = ₹ 1, 17, 600

As you can see, the shareholders of Nestle India have received a huge amount of dividends from the company. From 2001 onwards, the shareholders, so far, would have received ₹ 7, 75, 500 while in this year itself, they would have received ₹1,17,600. [According to the Hypothetical above]

Source: https://trendlyne.com/equity/Dividend/NESTLEIND/930/nestle-india-ltd-dividend/

Now, you can calculate your total dividend accordingly.

As you could see, if you had 600 shares of Nestle India registered under your name, then you would have become a Crorepati today. Now, just imagine that you invested in this company a long time ago and then you forgot about the existence of its shares. Or you have inherited some shares from your deceased family member, but you did not know about them. Due to this reason you did not claim any dividend on these shares for 7 years straight. In such a scenario, these shares are not in your possession anymore because they had been transferred to the IEPF account of the Government. This does not mean that you are no longer the rightful owner of those shares. The only difference is that the Government, on your behalf, is keeping your shares and dividend amount safe with them. You can always claim your lost shares and unpaid dividend from the Government under IEPF. The Government introduced this scheme in 2016 to resolve the problem of such ‘long lost and forgotten shares’.

About Investor Education and Protection Fund

The government started this scheme to educate the investors and protect them from losing their rights over the funds and the shares. When the investors used to forget about their shares, they used to get transferred to the Government Funds along with the unclaimed dividend amount. They could then be utilized by the Government for public welfare. Since the problem of people forgetting their shareholdings in a company was increasing, the Government realized that it was causing huge losses for the investors. Therefore, the Government decided to set up the IEPF.  It is a one-stop solution that the government provides to the members of a company. Here, the members can approach the government and claim their dividends and ask them to refund their long-forgotten shares. The IEPF was initiated while keeping in mind the interests of the shareholders. IEPF protected the investors’ funds while spreading awareness regarding the same.

The Government takes care of the unclaimed dividend and lost shares transferred to this account on behalf of the rightful shareholders. Thus, even after 7 years, investors can claim their dividends and shares from the fund manager by applying to the managing authority. People can claim their dividends and shares of different companies through one platform instead of going to each company individually, that is why IEPF is known as a one-stop solution.

There are various reasons why an investor tends to forget about its investment in a company:

• No Nominee: Usually investors do not appoint a nominee/ heir to take care of the shares after their death. Therefore, the shares remain deserted because the heirs are clueless about their ownership of such shares.
• Small Investments: Generally, the investment is of small amounts due to which an investor forgets about the shares.
• Property Dispute: Shares get attached to the court because proceedings are pending in the courts regarding the property dispute. Thus, the shares remain ownerless till the court’s verdict.

These are amongst many other reasons why an investor forgets about his/ her investment in a company. Due to these reasons, the dividends on the shares remain unclaimed for years and the companies end up with abundant shares lying with them with no sign of ownership.

Provisions Governing IEPF

The functioning of IEPF is governed by the Companies Act, 2013 read with the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016. Once a company declares a dividend on the shares, the shareholders get 30 days to claim the said dividend. After 30 days, if the dividends remain unclaimed by the shareholders, then the company, according to the above-stated laws, is obliged to transfer such dividends to a special account. This special account is opened in the name of the company, known as ‘Unpaid Dividend Account’.

After that, the company gets 90 days to publish a list of all the shareholders along with their unclaimed dividends on its website. In addition to this, the company can use any other mode of communication to tell its members about their unclaimed dividends kept with the company. If a shareholder wants to retrieve his unclaimed dividend from the ‘Unpaid Dividend Account’, then he has to file an application to the transfer agent of the company. Despite all these, if a shareholder, for any reason stated above, fails to claim the amount from the company for 7 years, then the company shall transfer such unclaimed dividend to the IEPF Account. If the dividends are not claimed for 7 years, then the shares on which such dividend was declared were considered as forgotten shares. Therefore, they also get transferred in the name of the IEPF. Thus, if the dividends remain unclaimed for 7 years, then the dividend and shares, both get transferred to the IEPF Account.

Dividends and Shares of Nestle India Ltd. in IEPF

The Annual Reports of a company state the current status of the dividends and shares of the company which are transferred to the IEPF account. According to the Annual Report of Nestle India Ltd. of 2019-2020, all the unclaimed dividends up to the financial year 1995-1996 which remained unpaid and unclaimed with the company were transferred to the Central Government’s general revenue account. As mentioned above, before the introduction of the IEPF, the companies were supposed to transfer the funds directly to the Central Government.

All the unclaimed dividends, from the financial year 1996-1997 to 2012-2013, remaining deserted with the company, along with the shares, were transferred to the IEPF Account in the name of the Central Government. The unclaimed dividends and shares were transferred to the IEPF pursuant to Section 124, Companies Act, 2013 read with Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016.

Unclaimed dividends declared by the company for the financial year 2012-2013 were recently transferred to the IEPF according to the Annual Report 2019-2020. The deadline to claim the dividends for the financial year of 2013-2014 will be given in the annual financial report of 2020-2021. In case a shareholder wants to claim his/ her dividends, then he/ she can approach the Company Registrar/ Transfer Agent of the Company with the required documents. The shareholders can reach out to the Company Registrar/ Transfer Agent of the Company at M/s Alankit Assignments Limited, Alankit House, 4E/2, Jhandewalan Extension, New Delhi, 110-055.

An investor can check the status of their unclaimed dividend, declared by Nestle, from https://www.alankit.com/searchmodule/search

For more information, visit https://www.nestle.in/sites/g/files/pydnoa451/files/2020-05/Nestle-India-Annual-Report-2019.pdf

Dividend transferred to the IEPF

According to the Annual Report 2019-2020 of the company, Nestle India has transferred the following unclaimed dividend to the IEPF during the Financial Year of 2019:

Source: https://www.nestle.in/sites/g/files/pydnoa451/files/2020-05/Nestle-India-Annual-Report-2019.pdf

In the previous financial year, Nestle India Ltd. has transferred an amount of Ninety-Eight Lakhs Twenty-Four Thousand One Hundred Seventy-Eight Rupees of unpaid and unclaimed dividend to the IEPF account of the Central Government. By looking at the amount of dividend, you can very well imagine the number of shares which lie unclaimed in the IEPF account. In the previous year itself, the company has transferred 4, 806 shares in the IEPF which amount to ₹ 8, 65, 08, 000. In total, the IEPF Account holds 0.1% of the total shareholding of Nestle India, i.e., 95, 575 shares. This amounts to ₹ 1, 72, 03, 50, 000. The shareholders, who forgot about their shares, are in loss of more than One Hundred Seventy-Two Crore Rupees.

P.S.: This amount is calculated by multiplying the shares transferred by the current price of the share.

95, 575 shares x ₹ 18, 000 = ₹ 1, 72, 03, 50, 000

As we can see, the amount of the unclaimed shares transferred to the IEPF account is more than a hundred crore. The company has a huge chunk of unclaimed shares in the IEPF. Thus, the shareholders are strongly advised to look into their investment history, or the ownership of shares passed on from a deceased family member and claim their dividends and shares from IEPF.

Unclaimed Shares & Lost Dividend Transferred to IEPF

Now, you might be wondering as to what happens to the shares and the dividend transferred to the IEPF. Do you still retain the right over the unclaimed dividend and the lost shares?

The short answer to that question is “Yes”. Yes, you do retain rights over the dividend and the lost shares, irrespective of the fact that the same has been transferred to the IEPF Account. As mentioned above, earlier it used to happen that the shareholder loses the rights over the dividend amount and the shares once they were transferred to the Government funds. But with the introduction of IEPF, a shareholder no longer loses his/ her right over the dividend amount as well as the shares. He/ She can apply to the fund manager to transfer the dividend amount accumulated and the shares back to the name of the original shareholder or the heirs of the same, as the case may be. Despite the fact, Nestle India still encourages its members to claim the dividends on time from the company itself, to avoid its transfer to the IEPF Account. The company sends individual letters, through posts and other modes of communication, to make their shareholders aware of their holdings in the company. Nestle India does this to prevent its members from going through the rigorous and tiresome procedure of recovering the money and shares from the IEPF Authority. The fund manager follows this rigorous procedure to ensure that the shares get transferred to the actual owner only. When shares remain unclaimed for a long period, i.e., 7 years or more, they become prone to someone fraudulently transferring them to his name. Thus, to avoid such fraudulent transfers, the fund manager makes thorough scrutinization of all the applications before initiating the transfer of the amount and the shares. Due to this thorough scrutinization, the procedure becomes time-consuming and it becomes hard for the members to get their shares back. That is why Nestle India recommends its shareholders to claim the dividends from the company from time to time as it takes less time and is an easy process. To claim the dividends, the shareholders have to apply to the Registrar or the Transfer Agent of the Company at the above-mentioned address. However, if your shares are already transferred to the IEPF, then you can approach the Nodal Officer, Balasubramaniam Murli, or the Deputy Nodal Officer, Pramod Kumar Rai, of the Company, appointed in this regard. To contact the Nodal/ Deputy Nodal Officer of Nestle India, write an email to Nodal.officer@IN.nestle.com.

The Necessity of Legal Help?

As stated above, the procedure to claim the refund of unclaimed dividends and lost shares from the IEPF Authority is a difficult and technical process. A certain degree of expertise is required to file the application to the fund manager. Hiring a legal professional can help you to save yourself from this tedious task. Your legal expert will take care of all the work and formalities required to file the refund application to the IEPF. If there are mistakes in an application, the IEPF authority straight away rejects it, and the claimant has to repeat the whole procedure. Your lawyer will ensure that there are no mistakes in your application so that the authority approves it without any objections. From contacting the nodal officer to collect information to filing the application with the authority, the lawyer will take care of everything.

Hiring a lawyer will be extremely helpful if your shares are stuck in a family dispute. As mentioned, sometimes, the shareholder dies without any nominee, and he also forgets to put shares in his will. In such a case, all the family members of the deceased come to claim their right to the deceased’s property, i.e., Nestle Shares in this case. Not hiring a legal expert can cost you a fortune that you are entitled to. Why will people leave shares worth crores? These disputes can take a long period of time to get settled. And if you are without a lawyer, then the other party will walk all over you and you will be left with nothing but pennies. A legal professional or a legal firm will represent you in all such disputes related to the ownership of the shares. A lawyer with the command of the law can protect you from all the loopholes which might go against you and thus, can provide you with the best deal possible.

Conclusion…

Nestle India is one of the largest and diverse FMCG companies with constant growth. Even this year, when everyone was struggling to cope up with the pandemic, the stock prices of this company managed to increase by ₹ 3, 500 per share. Due to this ever-increasing pace, the price of 1 share of Nestle India was floating at ₹ 18,000 per share. Therefore, it is the best time to sell some of your shares and secure a good profit. It might even help you to cope up with the financial difficulties, if any, that arose due to the pandemic. So, if you just came to know about the existence of any such shares in your name, which were left to you by your deceased family member, then it is the best time to claim them from the IEPF fund manager. In addition to your shares, you will also receive the dividend accumulated over time. I would advise you to check out the links mentioned above that will take you to the required section of the company’s website. Gather information regarding your dividends accumulated so far, along with your shareholding in the company, and file an application to claim your dividend from Nestle India Ltd. You will have to apply to the Nodal Officer of the Company, by contacting them at Nodal.officer@IN.nestle.com. If your dividend amount and shares are already transferred to the IEPF, even then you can claim the same by filing an application to the fund manager of the IEPF. For this, hire a legal expert as soon as possible and apply to the IEPF Authority for the refund of the unclaimed dividend and the recovery of the transferred shares. A legal expert will also help you to fight for the shares stuck in a family dispute.

The post Recovery of Nestle India Shares from IEPF appeared first on MUDS.

How would you feel if you find ₹ 1,000 in your jeans that you forgot about? Happy, right?

Now imagine if you find 1,000 shares of TCS bought during its IPO. Congratulations! You have hit a jackpot of 1 Crore Rupees.

How Did This Happen?

Tata Consultancy Service Ltd. (“TCS”) is India’s No. 1 multinational company specializing in Information Technology (“IT”) and Consultancy Services. It has expanded manifolds since its establishment. In April 2018, it became the first IT company to cross the milestone of $100 Billion in terms of market capitalization. TCS became the second Indian company to reach this milestone after Reliance Industries Ltd. (“RIL”). TCS has been consistent in its over-arching performance. Even in the times of Covid-19, it did not fail to impress with its numbers. In March 2020, TCS, again became the most valued Indian firm with the market capitalization of ₹ 6,82,408.68 crores, beating RIL by ₹ 6,959.73 crores. In September this year, it became the first IT company and the second Indian company after Reliance Industries Limited to reach the milestone of ₹ 9 trillion in terms of market capitalization. In October, it became the world’s most valuable IT company surpassing Accenture.

When everyone was recovering from the setback of COVID-19 pandemic, it continued to generate profit and dividends for its investors. For the first two quarters of the year 2020-21, the shares of TCS provided an aggregated dividend of ₹17 per share to its shareholders. So, if you or your deceased relative had bought 1,000 shares in 2004, i.e., during its IPO, then you could have received a dividend of ₹ 68,000 in the first two quarters of this year alone.

Now, you must be wondering, that how come a dividend of ₹ 17 per share for 1,000 shares yielded an income of ₹ 68,000. It should have yielded an income of only ₹ 17,000. The following calculation will clear your confusion and help you to understand how the 1,000 shares bought in 2004 are worth more than ₹ 1Crore today.

Calculation

• Suppose you bought 1,000 shares of TCS in 2004.
• On 28^th July 2006, the company issued bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1.

[Bonus Shares are the shares issued by the company to its shareholders as fully paid up shares without any cost. In simpler words, these shares are a gift from the company to its shareholders].

Issuing bonus shares at a 1:1 ratio means, that for every share owned by a shareholder, the company will issue another share in his name. This means that if you had 1,000 shares, it has now become 2,000 shares.

• On 16^th June 2009, the company again issued the bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1. This means that your 2,000 shares have become 4,000 shares.
• Since,

Dividend Received x No. of Shares = Total Dividend

Therefore,

₹ 17 x 4,000 shares = ₹ 68,000

• Now, the price of 1 TCS share, as of 17^th November 2020, is ₹ 2,673. Thus, the value of your shares as of date is,

₹ 2,673 x 4,000 shares = ₹ 1,06,92,000 (One Crore Six Lakhs Ninety-Two Thousand)

• The above amount is only the price of the shares. We have not calculated the dividends that you have received so far.
• TCS is known for paying its investors handsomely. Till date, the company has paid an aggregate dividend of ₹ 518.5 per share.

Now you can calculate your dividends accordingly.

So, if you had invested in 1,000 shares of TCS in 2004, then you would have become a Crorepati today. Now the real issue is, you know that you are the rightful owner of the TCS shares, but you are not in the possession of the same because they are held by the Government of India. This happens because of the Government’s rule that if a dividend remains unclaimed for seven years or more, then it has to be transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund (“IEPF”). The government introduced the concept of IEPF in 2016 to address the issue of such ‘forgotten shares’.

Investor Education and Protection Fund

You might find it hard to believe but it is very common for people to forget about their shareholdings in companies. There could be many reasons for the same, such as:

• Sometimes, an individual invests a very small amount in a company and forgets about it.
• Sometimes, people buy shares in a company without assigning a nominee. When they die, the shares remain unclaimed as the heirs of the deceased do not even know about the existence of such shares.
• Sometimes, the heirs of the deceased person do know about the shares. But due to a family dispute regarding the share in the property, the company’s shares become part of the dispute, and hence, remain unclaimed.

There could also be some other reasons that could lead to investors forgetting about them. Due to this, in almost every company they have these dormant shares without anyone showing ownership.

Earlier, the companies were obligated to transfer such unclaimed dividends to the government funds. The government would use such funds under various public policies for welfare schemes and developmental works. However, when the government saw that later, people are coming to claim their dividends, it decided to set up IEPF. It acts as a platform, where people can approach and claim their shares in various companies by filing an application. It acts as a one-stop solution, as people do not have to go to different companies one by one to claim their shares and dividends earned on the said shares. In order to claim the recovery of shares and to claim the refund of the unclaimed dividends from the IEPF, an individual has to apply for the same to the managing authority of the fund manager.

Provisions Governing IEPF

IEPF is governed by the Companies Act, 2013 and Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016. Under these laws, once a company declares the dividend, then it has to be claimed by the shareholder within 30 days of such declaration. If the dividend remains unclaimed, then the company shall transfer such unclaimed dividend to a special account, opened by the company, called ‘Unpaid Dividend Account’.

After transferring the amount to the ‘Unpaid Dividend Account’, the company, within 90 days, has to publish a list of all the shareholders along with their unclaimed dividend on their website. After that, if a person wants to claim the dividend, then he has to apply to the company for the payment of the unclaimed dividend.

If a person fails to claim the dividend for a consecutive period of 7 years, then the company is obliged to transfer the unclaimed dividend to the IEPF. Along with the amount, the company is also obliged to transfer such shares in the name of the IEPF.

Note: The shares transferred in the name of the IEPF are the shares on which the dividend has been declared by the company, but the shareholder has failed to claim the same for a consecutive period of 7 years.

Unclaimed Dividend & Unclaimed Shares of TCS

From the Annual Reports of a company, we can see the transfer status of the unclaimed dividend and unclaimed shares to the IEPF.

Funds & Shares transferred to the IEPF

According to the Annual Report 2019-2020 of the company, TCS has transferred the following unpaid dividend and unclaimed shares to the IEPF during the Financial Year of 2020:

Source: https://www.tcs.com/content/dam/tcs/investor-relations/financial-statements/2019-20/ar/annual-report-2019-2020.pdf

The company in the previous financial year has transferred Two Crores Forty-Six Lakhs Seventy Thousand Rupees (₹ 2,46,70,000/-) of the unclaimed dividend, along with Fifty-Four Thousand Seven Hundred Eighty-Six (54,786) shares in the IEPF. From the above table, it can be deduced that the company has a huge chunk of unclaimed dividends and unclaimed shares in the IEPF. The shareholders must look into their investment history to look for such unclaimed shares and claim their dividends from IEPF.

Funds & Shares to be transferred to the IEPF

The Annual Report 2019-2020 also provides the outstanding unclaimed dividend and the dates by which an investor can approach the Company’s Registrar or the Transfer Agent to claim the funds. After the expiry of the stated dates, TCS will be forced to transfer such dividends, along with the shares, to the IEPF.

The following tables provide the information regarding the date of declaration of dividends and the last date by which the shareholders can claim the dividends.

1. For shareholders of Tata Consultancy Service Limited (TCS):

The above table provides the deadlines for the shareholders of the TCS, to claim their dividends by applying to the Company’s Registrar or the Transfer Agent. After the due dates, provided in the 3^rd column, TCS will be forced to transfer the funds to the IEPF, along with the respective shares.

• For shareholders of erstwhile TCS e-Service Ltd. which has merged with the company:

TCS e-Service Ltd. was merged with TCS Ltd. The shares of such shareholders are treated differently. Therefore, the above table provides the deadlines for the shareholders of the erstwhile TCS e-Service Ltd., to claim their dividends by applying to the Company’s Registrar or the Transfer Agent. After the due date, provided in the 3^rd column, TCS will be forced to transfer the funds to the IEPF, along with the respective shares.

• For shareholders of erstwhile CMC Ltd. which has merged with the company:

CMC Ltd. was merged with TCS Ltd. The shares of such shareholders are treated differently. Therefore, the above table provides the deadlines for the shareholders of the erstwhile CMC Ltd., to claim their dividends by applying to the Company’s Registrar or the Transfer Agent. After the due dates, provided in the 3^rd column, TCS will be forced to transfer the funds to the IEPF, along with the respective shares.

An investor can check the status of their unclaimed dividend, declared by TCS, from https://www.tcs.com/unclaimed-dividend-details-from-february-10-2014-to-january-31-2020

For more information, visit https://www.tcs.com/content/dam/tcs/investor-relations/financial-statements/2019-20/ar/annual-report-2019-2020.pdf

Unclaimed Shares & Lost Dividend under IEPF

If the shares are not claimed within the 7 years, does it mean you will lose all your dividend income along with your shares?

As stated above, earlier, it used to happen that the government would utilize such funds for the public welfare, and the investor loses the rights over such income as well as shares. Therefore, the companies used to advise the investors to claim their dividend to prevent the loss of the dividend income and the shares. But now, with the introduction of IEPF, an investor does not lose his/ her right over the dividend and the shares. Then what is the reason for the companies advising you to claim dividends before the shares go into IEPF?

The reason why the companies still advise the investors to claim their dividend from the company by applying to the Company’s Registrar or the Transfer Agent, rather than claiming the refund of shares and the dividend amount from the IEPF, is that the process of claiming the refund of dividend and the shares from IEPF is tedious and cumbersome. IEPF takes time to refund the money and the shares to the rightful owner. The reason this is that the authority wants to ensure that the shares are transferred to the rightful owner. Thus, the claim applications go through heavy scrutiny before approval from IEPF authority.

Procedure to Claim Dividend and TCS Shares from IEPF Authority

TCS shareholders, whose shares and the unclaimed dividend has been transferred to the IEPF for they did not claim their dividend for the consecutive period of 7 years, as provided under Section 124 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016, can claim their shares or unclaimed dividend amount from IEPF Authority.

Step 1: Contact TSR Darashaw Ltd.

The shareholder has to contact TSR Darashaw Ltd., which is the Company Registrar/ Transfer Agent of TCS. The shareholder has to obtain all the information like the year wise dividend entitlement, and all the shares transferred to the IEPF Authority.

Step 2: Download IEPF 5

The shareholder then has to visit the website of the IEPF Authority, http://www.iepf.gov.in/IEPF/refund.html, and download the Form IEPF 5. Then he has to fill in the form and upload it back on the website. This will be the online application filed by the shareholder.

Note: An individual can file one form in one financial year. However, he can make multiple claims in a single form. Thus, remember to put all the claims in one form.

Step 3: Physical Application

The shareholder then has to take a printout of the online form and send it to the Nodal Officer at the Registered Office of TCS, Mumbai. The application should be sent along with the required documents, which are self-attested (including the witnesses).

The required documents need to be attached are:

• Original Indemnity Bond: Duly signed by the claimant, joint holder, and two witnesses:
  • Amount less than 10,000: On a plain paper
  • Amount more than 10,000: On a non-judicial stamp paper of the value prescribed under the Stamp Act.
• Original Advance Stamp Receipt: Duly signed by the claimant, joint holder, and two witnesses.
• Proof of Entitlement
• Copy of Client Master List
• Copy of Aadhar Card
• Copy of PAN Card
• Copy of Passport, in case of NRIs
• Original Cancelled Cheque Leaf
• In case any joint holder is deceased, a notarized copy of the death certificate to be attached
• Other optional documents, (if any)

Note: All the above documents are required to be self-attested by the claimant and the joint holder (if any).

Step 4: Verification by TCS

TCS will then verify the details of the application, along with the claim and the various documents attached. It will then make a Verification Report and file it, along with the original documents and physical application filed by the claimant, with the IEPF Authority.

Step 5: Comment by the IEPF Authority

The IEPF Authority, based on the application, documents attached, and the report submitted, will give its decision. It can do either of the three things:

• Approve the claim and initiate the refund.
• Ask the shareholder to resubmit the required documents, in case of any discrepancy or any document not being legible
• Reject the claim

Step 6: What to do next?

• If the IEPF Authority asks the shareholder to resubmit the documents, then the shareholder has to send the said documents to the Nodal Officer at the Registered Office of TCS, Mumbai. The Nodal Officer will then forward the documents to the IEPF Authority.
• If the IEPF Authority rejects the claim, then the shareholder will have to repeat all the steps from starting and keep in mind the mistakes he had made while filing the first application.

For more information, visit https://www.tcs.com/content/dam/tcs/pdf/discover-tcs/investor-relations/faq/steps-to-claim-dividend-shares-iepf.pdf

Why do You Need Legal Help?

As seen above, filing an application for the refund of unclaimed dividends and lost shares to the IEPF Authority could be a tricky and tedious task. To ease out the process and ensure that there is no mistake in the application, one requires the help of a legal professional. Filing the application requires a certain degree of technical knowledge. Hiring a legal professional will suit you the best as he will do all the tasks; from collecting the information from the company about the dividend and shares to filing the said application.

If the shares are involved in the family dispute, then you definitely require legal help. Shares get involved in the family dispute when a shareholder, as stated above, dies without assigning a nominee or does not include the shares in his will. Now, every one of his kin would want a right over such shares, especially when the value of those shares is huge. No family member of a deceased person will want to let go of the shares of TCS that were bought by him in 2004. Therefore, a claimant needs to hire a legal professional or approach a legal firm to manage all the disputes related to ownership of the shares. A lawyer knows all the laws regarding the partition of the family assets, and he can provide you with the best deal.

To Conclude….

So, we have seen how the shares of TCS have increased in value over the period. If you just came to know that some TCS shares exist in your name, then it is the best time to redeem them, along with the dividend accumulated over time. Who knows, maybe you will become the next millionaire. It is also advised that you go through the tables provided above and find the expiry date by which you can claim the dividend. After identifying the date, apply for the dividend claim as soon as possible with the Company Registrar/ Transfer Agent, i.e., TSR Darashaw Ltd. Thus, avoiding the shares to be transferred to the IEPF. However, if your shares are already transferred to the IEPF, find a legal expert as soon as possible, and apply to the IEPF Authority for the refund of the unclaimed dividend and the recovery of the transferred shares.

The post Recovery of Lost Shares of TCS from IEPF Can Make You a Multimillionaire! appeared first on MUDS.

The post Major COVID Relief By SEBI: Settlement Scheme for Illiquid Stock Options Segment Extended till 31st Dec appeared first on MUDS.

Yes! You read that right about recovery of shares. This information was revealed by none other than Mr Mukesh Ambani (Chairmen, managing director of the Reliance India Limited) in the Annual General Meeting of the company in 2017. Mr Ambani said, 

“In just 4 decades, Reliance Industries has grown from a small startup to one of the largest, most admired companies in the world,”

“One thousand rupees invested in Reliance shares in 1977 is today worth Rs 16,54,503 – over 1,600 times more valuable,”.

Now, what do these figures mean to an average investor? The main thing we can interpret from this data is that if by chance anyone has an invested stock from 1977 then they could get rich by manifolds. This is where recovery of shares gains importance. In a recently released data by RIL, it has the largest no. of unclaimed shares or unclaimed dividend among companies in India. The details of the data unclaimed IEPF shares are given in the table after the following section. The obvious question here is 

How does this unclaimed dividend come into being?

People generally tend to invest their money into various companies to reduce the risk of losing money. This seems profitable to the people but sometimes during the process, people tend to forget about their small investments and do not avail the dividends. The bought shares remain dormant for years with no one to claim. Sometimes senior citizens buy shares and forget to nominate an heir to shares before their death. This could lead to money unclaimed dividends or shares for companies. 

Status of Unclaimed Shares of Reliance India Limited

Reliance Industries Limited is one of the largest companies in India and according to a recent report released by MCA, it also has the highest amount in unclaimed dividends. Even till 2016, RIL had almost 113 crores recorded as unclaimed dividends from investors. The reliance Industry limited has all the data of unclaimed dividends on its website. It has also urged most of its investors to claim their dividends and get the recovery of shares or refund of shares before RIL is forced to transfer the amounts to IEPF. The details of unclaimed dividends of the shareholders can be checked in the following link:

https://www.rinfra.com/unpaid-unclaimed-dividend-holders

According to the latest released data by RIL, we can also see the transfer status of IEPF unclaimed dividends for various financial years in the following charts. If you want to study the information deeply you can access the documents from the source mentioned below the table. 

Chart 1: Status of unpaid and unclaimed dividend for Reliance Industries in different years:

Source: https://www.ril.com/DownloadFiles/IRForms/Shareholders-Referencer.pdf

Furthermore to elaborate on what will be the value of reliance shares bought long ago in today’s scenario will be, let’s understand the following data,

• The market capitalization of Reliance has multiplied 5000- times from the year 1977 to 2017. 
• Total assets increased from Rs. 33 crores to Rs. 700000 Crores.

One can simply conclude that owning a RIL share from the 80s would be the most profitable investment ever. Therefore, recovery of shares of Reliance is a profitable venture. Spending a small sum to get the lost shares is not a big deal considering the number of profits it will bring in terms of unclaimed dividend. Obviously, one would require legal help to claim all the lost shares. Especially in the scenario when an elderly have died without claiming the amount and their kin are laying claim on the amount. All the grandchildren might start asking for a share in the amount. This is where legal help can play a major role as they can help to get the will of the elderly to resolve the claim issue among the family members. A legal professional can also help in filing for the claim in IEPF. 

Claiming Money through IEPF

Earlier, according to the policy of government these unclaimed dividends were transferred to the government which will use it further for public use.  But the government later decided to set up an unclaimed dividend fund where the lost or unclaimed share of companies could be transferred. Any heir to the funds or people remembering their long-forgotten investment could file a report to the managing authority of the fund to claim their lost money and shares. With this concept in mind, the Government of India came up with the IEPF or Investor Education and Protection Fund. 

Provisions of Investor Education and Protection Fund:

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs announced Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) rules in 2017. The rules stated that any money which has been part of the unpaid dividend account of the company for seven years and has no claimant for the said duration must be transferred to the IEPF. The amount must be transferred to the fund with the interest for the same period. The said amount once transferred can only be claimed by a claimant after applying to IEPF. Therefore, the IEPF became a one stop destination for investors to lay claim on lost shares. it eased out the process of claiming refund of lost shares and provided investors an opportunity to avail their long lost investment. 

Now, let’s understand the process of claiming lost shares or unclaimed dividends from shares of reliance transferred to the IEPF. The process mentioned in the upcoming section is a set of simple guidelines to claim refund of shares form IEPF for a common investor. 

The Process to Get Refund of Lost Shares from IEPF:

Any person, whose shares, unclaimed dividend, matured deposits, matured debentures, application money due for refund, or interest thereon, sale proceeds of fractional shares, redemption proceeds of preference shares, etc. has been transferred to the Fund, may claim the shares under the provision to sub-section (6) of section 124 or apply for a refund under clause (a) of sub-section (3) of section 125 or proviso to sub-section (3) of section 125, as the case may be, to the Authority.

Step 1: Claimant to Authority

A claimant has to apply to MCA through IEPF Form-5 with details of their particulars, company, and shares to be claimed. 

• Particular of Applicant
• Details of Shares to be claimed
• Particular of Company
• Details of the amount claimed
• Aadhaar Number or PIO Card No. (in case of NRI/foreigners)/Passport/OCI
• Year-wise details of deposits/ securities.
• Aadhar linked bank account’s details (in which refund of claim to be made).

Step 2. Claimant to Company

After filling the online refund form, the claimant should send it to the Nodal Officer of the concerned company with attachments like indemnity bond, original receipts and certificates related to matures deposit or debentures, etc. these will help in verification of claim with the company. 

Docs Required are as listed:

• Original Physical Share Certificate/ bond/ Debenture Certificate
• Indemnity Bond (original) with claimant signature

On a non-judicial Stamp Paper of the value as prescribed under the Stamp Act if the amount of the claim is Rs.10, 000 or more.

On a plain paper if the amount claimed does not exceed Rs.10,000.

In case of a refund of shares, on a non-judicial Stamp Paper of the value as prescribed under the Stamp Act.

• Advance Stamped receipt (original) with the signature of the claimant and two witnesses
• Copy of Aadhaar Card of claimant
• Print out of duly filled claim form (IEPF-5) with claimant signature
• Acknowledgement copy
• Cancelled Cheque 
• Copy of Passport, OCI and PIO card (for foreigners and NRI)

Step 3. From Company to Authority

A company has to create a claim verification report within 15 days of receiving the claim form along with documents and send it to the authority in the prescribed format of the authority. The company has to appoint a nodal officer to carry out the verification process of the claim. 

The Nodal Officer shall be solely liable for all actions of any officer appointed as Deputy Nodal Officer: In case a company fails to appoint Nodal Officer, every director of the company shall be deemed to be a nodal officer and be liable for any failure to comply with the requirement of these rules.]

Step 4. Grant of Claim by Authority

The authority will grant the claim to the claimant after verification of all documents and the form sent by the company. 

II. Verification report to the Authority:

The company shall within 30 days of receipt of claim form, send a verification report to the Authority in the format specified by the Authority along with all documents submitted by the claimant.

The Company shall attach the scanned copy of all the original documents submitted by the claimant in physical form duly certified by its Nodal Officer along with the e-verification report along with a scanned copy of both sides of the original physical share certificate or original bond or deposit or debenture certificate/s duly cancelled and certified:

If the claimant has claimed shares, then the sanctioning authority will order a refund to be paid to the Demat account of the claimant. If there is any amount, then it will be transferred to the bank account of the claimant. Normally, the authority disposes of claims within 60 days of receiving the verification report from the company. 

Time: An application received for refund of any claim under this rule duly verified by the concerned company shall be disposed of by the Authority within 60 days from the date of receipt of the verification report from the company.

If  Submitted Application is Incomplete:

If the verifying authority finds the application incomplete or requires any other document to complete the verification, then they will write an email to the claimant mentioning the defects in the submitted form or details or any other required documents. The claimant is then required to submit the refurbished documents or other set of documents within 15 days of receiving the communication email form the authority. If the documents are not submitted on time, the authority can reject the claim application due to incomplete nature of documents. All the documents required again by the verifying authority must be addressed to the verifying nodal officer of the company. ensure that the documents reach the officer within fifteen days.

So, we understood the complete process of getting unclaimed dividends from a company. Shares of Reliance Industries Limited have risen manifolds in their value in the last few decades. Therefore, if you lay claim to shares lost or unclaimed for a long time then their value in the current times will be considerably higher. This is like finding unexpected gold buried in your ancestors’ land. However, claiming this lost moneyand recovery of shares requires filing documents and meeting all the requirements mentioned above. The easy workaround for this tedious process is to get the help of a legal firm that can do all the documentation and filing work for you.  These firms can also guide through the complete process and make your job of recovery of shares easy. So, without waiting anymore, if you have any queries or recovery of shares/transfer related questions, find a suitable legal firm with experts and get guidance on recovery of your unclaimed investment.  

The post Recovery of Shares of Reliance Industries Limited from IEPF appeared first on MUDS.

Bonus shares capitalizes a part of reserves (retained earnings) to bring:

1. A price of share back to a more manageable amount, thus enhancing its market ability. The number of shares held by each shareholder increases, the value of the total shareholding remains the same as before the bonus issue.
2. The percentage of holding also remain intact.

The concept is similar to a rights issue, except that bonus shares are created by transferring money from a company’s reserves into its equity capital (capitalization of reserves). This is useful for a company that have cash reserve and capitalized its profit.

Companies issue bonus shares to increase its Equity base and reduce the price per shares. It encourage retail participation to buy Shares. But the overall capital remains the same even if bonus shares are declared.

For example, the company declare Bonus shares in the ratio of 1:4, i.e., every member will have 5 Shares now against 1 shares held in the Company. These are company’s accumulated earnings which are not given out in the form of dividends, but are converted into free shares.

There was no specific section or provision under the Companies Act, 1956 dealing with Bonus Shares. As per SEBI Act, unlisted Private Limited Companies and Public Limited Companies were free to issue Bonus Shares if there were sufficient reserves to match the issue of Bonus Shares.
To bring in sanctity to the Issue of Bonus Shares, The Companies Act, 2013 has introduced Section 63 to deal exclusively with Bonus Shares.

Issue of bonus shares is covered under Section 63 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with rule 14 of The Companies (Share Capital and Debentures) Rules, 2014.

Source for issue of Bonus Shares:

As per Section- 63(1) a company may issue fully paid up bonus shares to its members out of following:

1. Free reserves.
2. Securities Premium Account.
3. Capital Redemption Reserve Account.

Source from which Bonus Shares can’t issue:

1. No issue of bonus shares shall be made capitalizing reserves created by the revaluation of assets. (Company can’t issue Bonus Shares out of reserve create from revaluation of assets).
2. The Company shall not issue shares in lieu of Dividend.

Procedure For Issue Of Bonus Shares

1. Call the Board Meeting
   • As per Section 173(3): Issue Notice of atleast 7 days for calling meeting of Board of Directors.
2. Hold the Board Meeting
   • Check the Quorum as per Section 174(1): Quorum for the Meeting of Board of Directors is 1/3rd of total strength of Board or 2 directors, whichever is higher.
   • Place before the Board Resolution for issue of Bonus Shares.
   • Pass Board Resolution for issue of shares.
   • Decide the Ration of Shares offering to share holders.
   • Fixing the date, time, and venue of the general meeting and authorizing a director or any other person to send the notice for the same to the members.
   • Provisions of the Section 101 of the Companies Act 2013 provides for issue of notice of EGM in writing to below mentions atleast 21 days before the actual date of the EGM :
     • All the Directors
     • Members
     • Auditors of Company
   • The notice shall specify the place, date, day and time of the meeting and contain a statement on the business to be transacted at the EGM.
   • Authorize a director to do all the work relating to issue notice of right issue.
3. File MGT-14:
   • File e-form- MGT-14 with in 30 days of Passing of Board Resolution for issue of shares.
4. Convene A General Meeting:
   • Check the Quorum.
   • Check whether auditor is present, if not. Then Leave of absence is Granted or Not. (As per Section- 146).
   • Pass Ordinary Resolution for bonus shares.
5. Call the Board Meeting:
   As per Section 173(3): Issue Notice of atleast 7 days for calling meeting of Board of Directors.
6. Filling of e-Forms File PAS-3:
   • File e-form PAS-3 with in 30 days of passing of Board Resolution for allotment of shares.
7. Issue Share Certificates:
   • Company will issue share certificate to the share holders with in 2 month from the date of allotment of shares and payment of Stamp duty on the same.

Note For Issue Of Bonus Shares

1. Check whether Authorized capital is sufficient for issue of Bonus Shares, if not, need to alter capital Clause of MOA
2. Check Provision for Bonus issue in Article of Association of Company, if not, need to alter AOA of the Company.
3. All the shares are fully paid-up, in case of partly paid-up, them first make them fully paid-up.
4. No Default of any payment of interest or principal in respect of fixed deposit or debt securities.

Conditions For Issue Of Bonus Shares

• Articles must contain provision for issue of bonus shares [As per Section-63(2) (a)].
• Bonus issue must be authorised by the members of the company (by passing of Ordinary Resolution) on recommendation of Board.
• Company should not have defaulted in payment of interest or principal in respect of fixed deposits or debt securities issued by it and no defaulted in respect of the payment of statutory dues of the employees, such as, contribution to provident fund, gratuity and bonus.

It was rightly said by Ralph Waldo Emerson– “Every Wall is a Door”
Thus, take a step forward to open the door for the new FDI norms.

Shweta Gupta from MUDS MANAGEMENT is recognized among the most-respected, knowledgeable and yes, pocket-friendly as well.

Why not give them a call right now at +91 9599653306 and start a conversation immediately.

The post Capitalisation Of Reserves Through – Bonus Issue appeared first on MUDS.