After Sahara and Saradha, more disasters may be waiting to happen in the money market. With over Rs 30,000 crore of public money parked in various Ponzi schemes and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is probing existence of companies not registered with it as NBFCs but involved in the money market. The number of such companies in Bengal could be over 16,000. The pan-India figure could be over 70,000. 

There are 12,157 companies registered with RBI as NBFCs all over India, of which 5,800 are in Kolkata. But it seems this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are several firms doing businesses similar to NBFCs in the state but are not registered with RBI. 

It has sent letters to companies registered under the finance code with the registrar of companies (RoC), an official said. Such firms can take up financial activities up to a certain limit without getting registered as an NBFC. RoC sources said there are 22,000 companies registered under the finance code in Bengal. "There are a lot of other such companies not registered as NBFC," the sources said. (Times of India)