Investors of Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL) have not paid any money after December 2021, while investors of PACL Ltd have been paid over Rs1,021 crore. According to a reply by finance minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made refunds to 17,526 eligible bondholders for an aggregate amount of Rs138.07 crore. About 2.08mn (million) investors of PACL received a refund of Rs1,021.84 crore as of March 2024, she added.
However, in December 2021, the FM gave the same figures of refund for investors of Sahara, while in February this year, SEBI informed that the justice RM Lodha committee, supervising the Supreme Court (SC)-ordered process of selling PACL's assets across the country, has successfully effected refunds worth Rs1021.84 crore to 2.08mn investors with a claim of up to Rs19,000.
Responding to a question by member of Parliament (MP), Amra Ram, the minister says, "SEBI has made refunds to 17,526 eligible bondholders for an aggregate amount of Rs138.07 crore. SEBI has, further, filed an interlocutory application dated 21 December 2021 seeking further directions from the Supreme Court in the matter. The Supreme Court has constituted a three judges’ special bench for further proceedings."
"SEBI, in its order dated 31 October 2018, directed Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd (SICCL) and its directors to refund the money collected to its bondholders and the matter is sub-judice before the Supreme Court," FM Sitharaman said.
Talking about refunds to investors of PACL, the minister said, after considering the amount of funds available for distribution, the justice Lodha committee decided to make payments, with due verifications, to the investors in a phased manner, starting from small investors. "As of 31 March 2024, the committee has effected aggregate refunds of Rs1,021.84 crore to 2.08mn eligible investors with outstanding claim amount up to Rs19,000."

In her reply in the lower house in December 2021, Ms Sitharaman had said that SEBI received 19,644 applications in total, involving 53,642 original bond certificates or passbooks for an aggregate principal amount of Rs81.70 crore. "On the basis of verifiable documents, SEBI made refunds with respect to 17,526 eligible bondholders involving 48,326 original bond certificates and passbooks for an aggregate amount of Rs138.07 crore (i.e., Rs70.09 crore as principal and Rs67.98 crore as an interest) by way of transfer through national electronic funds transfer (NEFT) and real-time gross settlement (RTGS).” (
Read: Sahara Investors Received Just Rs138.1 Crore from SEBI Out of Rs15,485.80 Crore Deposited by the Group)
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, an aggregate amount of Rs15,775.50 crore was deposited by the Sahara group companies with SEBI as of 31 March 2024, the FM says.
For the refund proceeds of PACL investors, SEBI issues releases from time to time. In its February 2024 release, SEBI stated that over 2.08mn investors of PACL, with a claim of up to Rs19,000, have been paid over Rs1,021 crore.
In September last year, the committee had called for original PACL certificates from eligible investors with a principal outstanding between Rs17,001 and Rs19,000.
In February 2023, considering the difficulties faced by investors in submitting original certificates, the Lodha committee decided to pay the outstanding for eligible applicants identified after verification. Accordingly, it paid Rs85.68 crore to 114,933 eligible applicants whose principal outstanding from PACL was between Rs15,000 and Rs17,000.
SEBI's investigations had earlier revealed that PACL, which had raised money from the public in the name of agriculture and real estate businesses, collected more than Rs60,000 crore through illegal collective investment schemes (CISs) over 18 years. Moneylife had extensively reported on the PACL scam and you can
read it here.
In February 2019, the committee headed by retired justice Lodha had initiated the process of refunds in phases for investors who had invested in PACL. PACL (or Pearls) is one of India's largest Ponzi schemes, which had been allowed to run for decades amassing over Rs60,000 crore. The committee had asked PACL investors to submit online applications for a refund. (
Read: PACL Refund: Over 2.08 Million Investors Paid Rs1,021.81 Crore, Says SEBI)