New Delhi, July 17 -- India's special fund to compensate investors harmed by securities violations has seen its corpus balloon over the years, but it has rarely been deployed.

Expenditure from the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) dropped from Rs.11.9 crore in FY23 to Rs.2.8 crore in FY24, according to the annual report of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for 2023-24. That's when the number of awareness drives and educational campaigns has increased.

The fund's balance doubled from Rs.240.2 crore at the close of FY23 to over Rs.533 crore as of March 2024. Constituted by an executive order in 2007 and formalized under the Sebi (IPEF) Regulations, 2009, to serve investor interests, it started with just Rs.10 c...