Kolkata: Central agencies like Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) are already conducting thorough probes against giant chit fund entities in West Bengal like Saradha Group and Rose Valley Group.
Now the Market Intelligence Wing (MIW) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is gearing up for initiating a fresh enquiry against 194 small and micro chit fund entities who had been active in West Bengal since the end of 2015.
A senior apex bank official said on condition of anonymity said that in November 2016, for the first time RBI cautioned West Bengal government on these 194 chit fund or multi-level marketing (MLM) entities.
At that point of time, the apex bank forwarded all details relating to these 194 entities to the state secretariat of Nabanna.
In the fresh initiative, the apex bank will enquire whether the state government has taken any initiative against these entities in between.
The central bank will also enquire whether the state government has any additional information about these entities.
“In size or in terms of the extent of fund mobilisation from the market, these 194 entities are simply dwarfs when compared to Rose Valley Group. At least that was what they were during the financial year 2016-17. But a dwarf can become a giant in absence of proper monitoring and action. In November 2016, when the apex bank handed over details about these 194 chit fund entities to the state government, the latter was also cautioned that in absence of action any of these chit funds in future can become masterminds of major financial scams like Saradha or Rose Valley. We hope that the state government has taken some appropriate action in the meantime,” the apex bank official said.
