Investors’ complaint redressal platform SCORES linked to online dispute resolution: Sebi circular

The capital markets regulator Securities Exchange Board of India has released a circular announcing the redressal of investor grievances through the Sebi complaint redressal (SCORES) platform and linking it to online dispute resolution platform.

For the uninitiated, SCORES is a complaint redressal facilitation platform that was launched in 2011 to give a web-based platform for the aggrieved investors whose grievances remain unresolved.

As of now, the process of investor grievances redressal on SCORES is governed by the master circular released on Nov 7, 2022.

Now the recently-released circular (Sep 20) supersedes the previous one. The latest Sebi’s diktat will come into effect from Dec 4 onwards.

The objective behind the new regulations is to bring them in line with the Sebi (facilitation of grievance redressal mechanism) (amendment) regulations 2023.

Additionally, the regulator’s goal is to strengthen the existing investor grievances handling mechanism through SCORES by making the entire redressal process of grievances in the securities market comprehensive by offering a solution that makes the process more efficient by bringing the timelines down, and by introducing auto-routing and auto-escalation of complaint.

Let us understand how this auto-escalation and auto-routing take place.

Investors’ complaints to be handled in the following way:

A. The complaint lodged on SCORES against any entity will be automatically forwarded to the concerned entity through SCORES for resolution.

B. The complaint against the entity will be simultaneously forwarded through SCORES to the relevant designated body.

C. All entities (e.g., a company) who receive an investor’s complaint through SCORES will resolve the same and upload the action taken report (ATR) within 21 calendar days of the receipt of the complaint.

D. If the complainant is not satisfied, the complainant may request for a review of the resolution provided by the entity within 15 calendar days from the date of the ATR.

E. The complainant may seek a second review of the complaint within 15 calendar days from the date of the submission of the ATR by the designated body.

F. Sebi or the designated body may also seek clarification on the ATR submitted by the concerned entity for Sebi review complaint.