The Sachet website of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has received as many as 22 complaints relating to financial frauds from Himachal Pradesh, out of the 2,000 complaints in the country.

The complaints relate to fictitious offers like an offer of cheap loans, asking for processing fees on the pretext of loans, offer of a high rate of interests on deposits, and offer through fake lottery schemes.

This was disclosed during the State Level Coordination Committee (SLCC) meeting on Thursday that was chaired by Chief Secretary BK Agarwal. The complaints from Himachal Pradesh have been forwarded to the Director General of Police for necessary action.

Agarwal stressed on the need for conducting more financial literacy camps in the state in coordination with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to sensitise the public about financial frauds.

Workshops on financial literacy would be organised at all three division level in which faculty of RBI and SEBI would sensitise the Deputy Commissioners, Superintendents of Police, representatives of Legal Service Authority and Public Prosecutors and other stakeholders, he added.

“Lead District Managers (LDMs) should coordinate with respective DCs to organise awareness camps in rural areas and also associate in pre-Jan Manch activities which were proving a big success in redressal of public grievances,” he said.

He further said that a slot of 10 minutes for financial literacy could be provided to the personnel of RBI and SEBI during Jan Manch which was held on first Sunday of every month in each district.

Agarwal said that special workshops should be organised for the employees who were retiring shortly and for those persons whose land was being acquired for four-laning in the state as they were vulnerable towards financial frauds.

He asked the RBI and SEBI to coordinate with Himachal Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) and other departments to incorporate financial literacy in their training modules and workshops.

The Chief Secretary directed the regulators to issue cautionary messages through SMS gateway, local TV channels, Radio and local dailies of the state to protect the interests of gullible investors against misleading advertisements and unsolicited calls regarding various fraudulent schemes offered by unscrupulous and unincorporated bodies.

It was informed in the meeting that at present there is no authorised Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) to accept deposits in Himachal Pradesh.

RBI had participated in Kullu Dusshera and put up a stall for seven days for public awareness.

RBI Regional Director Rachna Dikshit said that SLCC forum was constituted to bring all the regulatory and law enforcing agencies at one platform and adopt a consultative and coordinated approach in the matters pertaining to unauthorized acceptance of deposits by unincorporated bodies in the state who take advantage of regulatory gaps and succeed in luring the common man.