Need to educate investors about risks and rewards: Kerala CM

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Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday said his southern state has a lot of investment opportunities to explore across financial market categories and underlined the need to spread awareness among investors.

"Recently, a lot of investor-related complaints have been recorded, which we are accessing. To avoid such incidents in future, I feel that an investor education programme is essential, especially for the common people to better understand investment opportunities and risks," Chandy told reporters here after he rang the opening bell at the BSE.

On the occasion, the BSE announced the opening of its new regional office premises in Kochi in the next two months. The new premises will offer investors based in South India a host of membership services across business lines, besides investor services and educational activities.

"We are also initiating a comprehensive year-long investor awareness campaign across Tier-2 cities of Kerala with content delivered in Malayalam. Our new regional office in Kochi is also part of the strategic focus to connect and serve the BSE's large investor and member community in southern India which has been growing steadily," BSE chairman S Ramadorai said.

The chief minister asserted that Kerala represents very high potential for retail and institutional investors in the stock market, with 11 active members, besides 10 more in various stages of registration.

"The Kerala government has already submitted a representation to the Centre about the need for changing the present Coastal and Island shipping (Cabotage) Act for the Vellarpadam Port in Kochi and is awaiting its response," Chandy said on the sidelines of the function.

"An amendment to the Cabotage Act has become very crucial for ensuring the smooth functioning of the Vallarpadam Container Terminal," he added.

Chandy also said he was expecting more funds to come in for dredging work needed for big foreign containers.

Talking about the proposed Vizhinjam International Transshipment Terminal near Thiruvananthapuram, the Chief Minister said the Kerala Cabinet has accepted competitive technical bids from two consortiums for operation of the facility and is awaiting security clearance from the central government.