THE NEED FOR REGULATION OF EQUITY CROWDFUNDING IN INDIA

In the dynamic stream of seeking investment, Crowdfunding has emerged as a systematic way of seeking investment in India. It is a convenient way by which people can raise capital seamlessly and in an efficient manner using an internet-based platform. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has released a consultation paper in 2014 and defined crowd funding as “solicitation of funds (small amount) from multiple investors through a web-based platform or social networking site for a specific project, business venture or social cause.” The July 2017, BCG report suggests that India ‘netizens’ will be 850 million by 2025, which is greater than the combined population of G-7 countries . Amongst the ways in which investment is taking place, Peer to peer lending (P2P) amounts to US$25 billion, donation (US$2.9), rewards (US$2.7 billion) and Equity Crowdfunding (US$2.5 billion). The Nasscom-KPMG report estimates that the total fintech software and services market in India was around $8 billion in 2016 and likely to grow 1.7 times by 2020 . Massolution's Global Crowdfunding Report expects Crowdfunding to become a $300 billion industry by 2025 . Crowdfunding in developing countries raised US$430 million in 2015, with India, the Philippines, and Nepal in the top three. All these data suggest to the fact that, there is an increased awareness in the crowd about raising capital from non-conventional sources when all of the conventional sources, demonetisation and introduction of Goods and Services Tax Act (GST) has failed to address the concerns of budding entrepreneurs and have deafened their upcoming venture. Though the evolution of Fin-tech in India seems to shift the gears of new entrepreneurship and is constantly making a difference in a person’s life; it has its own concerns. Recognising the advent at which these crowd-funding operations grew in India, the Government took some steps in regulating crowd-funding business in India. SEBI did so by incorporating regulations on reward-based Crowdfunding and donor based Crowdfunding, but is largely silent on the regulation of equity based crowd funding and online based Crowdfunding. This causes a serious dilemma as to what should the solution be considering the progressive role it is playing in our country. It is pertinent to observe the fact that there is an ‘untapped potential’ in the Indian market for which we need proper compliance laws and regulatory procedures. The need arises to, mitigate frauds, and comply with privacy laws and also to ensure that fraudulent activities do not take place. This paper is an attempt to amplify the problem relating to ‘no regulatory practices’ in the Indian sub-continent with regard to Crowdfunding.