The Ministry, during the last three years and current year, has ordered investigation into the affairs of 145 companies which were allegedly involved in illegal deposit taking activities.  A State-wise list of these companies is enclosed as Annexure. In many of the cases where investigations have been completed, diversion of funds so collected and/ or default by the companies in repayment of such deposits has been observed.
 
            Regulation of such activities is covered by the following statutes:
 

 
Apart from enforcement of the above statutes and regulations, the following measures have been taken toprotect the interests of the investors and to enable effective investigation into the affairs of companies allegedly involved in frauds:
 
(i)         ‘Fraud’ has been defined as a substantive offence in the Companies Act, 2013;
(ii)        Section 143(12) of Companies Act, 2013 requires the auditor of a company to report any fraud to the Board of Directors or Audit Committee of that company or to the Central Government, depending on the amount of fraud.
 
Annexure
 
LIST OF INVESTIGATION ORDERED IN RESPECT OF COMPANIES INDULGING IN ILLEGAL COLLECTION OF DEPOSITS
 
Year – 2012-13

 
Year – 2013-14

 
Year – 2014-15

 
Year – 2015-16

 
This information was given by Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister of Corporate Affairs in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.