The Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) organised a State-level conference on Investor Education and Awareness here on Tuesday in association with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

The conference involved participation from various financial institutions, professional institutes and various organisations working in the field of investor education.

Odisha had been chosen as a first venue State by IEPFA in its series of such conferences in various States.

The conference was inaugurated by Chief Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy and Development Commissioner Suresh Mohapatra.

Union Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Chairman IEPFA Injeti Srinivas delivered the theme address during the inaugural session.

Among others, Madhusudan Padhi, Principal Secretary to Governor of Odisha, Prafulla P Chhajed, president ICAI, Rajib Sekhar Sahoo, member, IEPFA and Prakash Sharma, Central Council Member (CCM) and chairman, Committee on Capital Market and Investors Protection, ICAI were present as guests of honour.

Speaking onto this occasion Tripathy said almost 30 per cent of minerals in India can be found in Odisha. So, to spread awareness among public about the investment policy is a great concern carried out by IEFPA. Eventually, he said in the context of rural economic growth, investor education is most important. So now the time has come to create awareness among the public on the investor education.

The conference was attended by more than 500 delegates from all over the State including delegates from Institute of Company Secretaries of India, Institute of Cost Accountants of India, FICCI, CII, RBI, Chamber of Commerce, Gram Panchayat representatives, VLEs (Village-Level Entrepreneurs) of CSC e Governance  and youth volunteers from Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan.