Gyan Management

Effectiveness of Investors’ Grievances Redressal in Capital Market of India: Evidence from SEBI’s SCORES Mechanism

Kamalpreet Kaur¹ and Navkiranjit Kaur Dhaliwal¹

First Published 9 Jul 2026. https://doi.org/10.1177/09747621261458474

Article Information

Volume 20, Issue 2 July 2026

Corresponding Author:

Kamalpreet Kaur, Department of Commerce, Punjabi University, Arts Block No. 6, Second Floor, Patiala, Punjab 147002, India.
Email: mahalkamal50@gmail.com

¹Department of Commerce, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-Commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed.

Abstract

The rapid growth of the Indian capital market has culminated in increased investor engagement, leading to a growing volume of investor complaints and creating major hurdles to regulatory control. This study investigates the efficiency of the Securities Exchange Board of India’s investor grievance redressal process, with a special emphasis on the SCORES portal in the post-financial crisis era. The objectives of the research are to assess the performance of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) grievance redressal system and to identify trends in investor grievances received, settled, and pending from 2008–2009 to 2024–2025. A descriptive and analytical study design is used, with secondary data from SEBI’s annual reports and official publications. To evaluate long-term patterns, the analysis uses trend analysis and compound annual growth rate (CAGR) approaches. The findings of the study reveal an ongoing rise in investor complaints, reflecting increased market awareness and engagement. Cumulative grievance redressal rates regularly surpassed 95%, while pending grievances declined sharply due to improved efficiency and digital platforms such as SCORES and SCORES 2.0. However, the actual annual redressal rate remains moderate because of carried-forward grievances. The study concluded that SEBI’s grievance redressal process has significantly improved investor protection and market trust, highlighting the necessity of ongoing technology advancement and investor education to maintain regulatory efficacy.

Keywords

Indian capital market, investors’ grievance redressal, investor protection, SCORES, SEBI

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