Sahara Cooperatives' Refund Limit Increased to Rs50,000 from Rs10,000
Moneylife Digital Team 19 September 2024
The Union government has increased the upper limit from Rs10,000 to Rs50,000 per person to refund money to depositors of the Sahara group of cooperative societies. Out of the sanctioned Rs5,000 crore, the central registrar of cooperative societies (CRCS) has disbursed Rs370 crore to the depositors of Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd, Saharayan Universal Multipurpose Society Ltd, Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd. 
 
A senior official from the Union ministry of cooperation told the media that so far the government has released Rs370 crore to more than 429,000 depositors of Sahara societies through the CRCS-Sahara refund portal.
 
"With an increase in the limit of the refund amount to Rs50,000, about Rs1,000 crore payment will be made in the next 10 days," the official says.
 
Many investors and depositors of Sahara societies have been facing several issues while submitting their claims on the CRCS-Sahara refund portal. The ministry launched a separate portal for depositors to resubmit their claims https://mocresubmit.crcs.gov.in/resubmission/#/home.
 
A notification on the CRCS-Sahara refund portal says, "We are currently accepting resubmissions for claims aggregating up to Rs5 lakh. Announcement of dates for resubmission of aggregate claim of amount above Rs5 lakh would be done later. Resubmitted claims shall be processed within 45 working days."
 
With great anticipation from the troubled investors, the cooperation ministry launched the refund portal on 18 July 2023. At the time, it was announced that if all documents concerning the claim were in order, refunds would be processed in 45 days. Yet, almost a year later, there are many investors whose claims on the portal have been dismissed or rejected for ambiguous reasons. 
 
Moneylife Foundation has been tracking the troubles faced by investors of Sahara's various cooperative societies and has also hosted a Telegram group for aggrieved investors to coordinate and collectively find solutions to their problems. The group, which was formed during the pandemic, has over 600 members who regularly post about their experiences and share updates whenever one of them receives a refund. (Read: Sahara CRCS Refund Portal: A Year of Delays, Many Still Waiting for Payout)
 
Last year, the Supreme Court ordered a portion of the funds (Rs5,000 crore) retrieved by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to be transferred to the Union ministry of cooperation to facilitate refunds to the investors. The apex court had ruled that the Rs5,000 crore should be paid to the legitimate depositors of the Sahara group of cooperative societies as soon as possible, but no later than nine months from the date of the ruling. Any remaining funds would then have to be transferred back to the Sahara-SEBI refund account.
 
As of 31 January 2024, only Rs258.47 crore has been paid to 277,000 applicants out of 12.1mn (million) claims filed by depositors of Sahara group's four cooperative societies through the CRCS portal (Read: Sahara CRCS Refund: Just 2.77 Lakh out of 1.21 Crore Applicants Received Rs258.47 Crore, Says Govt). However, this data may not be completely accurate as the number of total registrations on the CRCS refund portal is a staggering 16mn (16,038,266) and the number of claims submitted is an equally astounding 34.1mn (34,115,4180), as per a response received to an RTI application. (Read: Sahara CRCS Refund Portal Registers Claims of Over Rs82,695 Crore, but Pays Only Rs228.77 Crore, Reveals RTI ).
 
On 31 August 2012, the Supreme Court handed down a historic verdict asking SIRECL and SHICL to refund Rs19,400.87 crore and Rs6,380.50 crore, respectively, to investors as the funds were illegally raised through quasi-debentures without regulatory clearance. 
 
These two Sahara group companies collected Rs25,781.37 crore from around 3.07 crore investors through red herring prospectuses (RHP) on optionally fully convertible debentures dated 13 March 2008 and 16 October 2009 of SIRECL and SHICL, respectively.
 
Following various orders passed by the Supreme Court and the attachment orders from the market regulator, the Sahara group companies deposited an aggregate amount of Rs15,775.50 crore with SEBI as of 31 March 2024.
 
Comments
hemurao
5 months ago
the portal still does not provide any guidance on deceased depositors. IT simply rejects the application since claimant will be legal heir but deposit is in name of deceased.
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