Pankaj Chaudhary, the union minister of State for Finance informed the Parliament, that more than Rs 1.12 lakh crore, of nearly 13 crore investors are stuck in various companies of Sahara India group.Â
Table of Contents
Introduction to Sahara India group
Taking a quick glance into the background of Sahara India Group,
Or the Sahara India Pariwar, it is an Indian conglomerate, with its headquarters located at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
Sahara India is operating in various business sectors, such as finance, retail, e-commerce, Sahara life insurance, health care, real estate, housing and infrastructure, sports, entertainment, eductaion, hospital, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles (EV), cooperative society, hospitality, etc.Â
It is also a major promoter of sports sector in India and not to mention, it has remained a title sponsor of Indian National Cricket, hockey and Formula One team as well.Â
Launching of Sahara Refund Portal
The Centre has recently commenced a refund process, in an attempt to provide the crores of investors, with some relief, whose money is tuck in around four cooperative societies of the Sahara India Group. This action started following the Supreme Court order, that came on 29th March, 2024, for transference of Rs 5000 crores to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) , from Sahara SEBI refund account.
The first payment through this portal would be made to the one crore investors who have invested Rs 10,000 or more.
Another rising question that what documents are required for application of refund. One is required to attach, certificate of Deposit or passbook, claim request form, PAN Card, Aadhar Card. The investor will receive SMS or email, to know whether their claim request has got the approval or not.Â
Which investors are eligible for the refund?
People who deposited their money in Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., Hamara India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd., Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd., Saharayan Universal Multipurpose Society Ltd., are all eligible to avail for refund.
The mentioned list of cooperative societies consist of only a limited number of investors with their deposits being stuck in Sahara, however, there are numerous other depositors who are distressed with their stuck deposits,made in Sahara entities other than the mentioned ones, and are warily waiting for refund as well.
Therefore, the investors with their deposits in Sahara Financial Corporation, Sahara Real Estate corporation, and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation, are unfortunately, not eligible to claim refund through the new portal.
Data and Satistics
The following estimated figures suggest the amount of wealth of how many investors are stuck in entities
- Sahara Real Estate Corporation Ltd : Rs, 19,400 Crore
Investors : 2 crore
- Sahara Housing Investment Corporation ltd. : Rs 6300 crore
Investors : 75 lakh
- Sahara Credit Cooperative Society : Rs 47,000
Investors : 4 crore
- Humara India credit cooperative society : Rs 12,900 crore
Investors : 1.8 crore
- Saharayan Universal Multipurpose Society : Rs 18,000 crore
Investors : 3.71 Crore
- Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society : Rs 8,400
Investors : 13 lakh
Major Concerning Issues
In July 2015, SEBI board had cancelled the license of the Sahara Group Mutual Funds Business. Â Â
The Two Companies, Sahara Real estate corporation and Sahara Housing Investment corporation, which are registered under the Companies Act, collected over Rs 17,500 crore, between the period of 2008 to 2011, from nearly 2.9 crore investors, via private placement. However, it was later caught that the collection procedure did not comply with the guidelines which are applicable to the public offerings.
Another issue involves that the Sahara cooperative societies allegedly, collected more than Rs 86,000 crore from the public and henceforth, the demand for refund has been rising as days pass. Several investigations are being conducted on such cooperative societies
