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Crores of investors of Sahara Group’s co-operative societies will not have to wait any longer to get their money back. On the orders of the Supreme Court, the government has completed preparations to return the money to the investors of the four co-operative societies of the Sahara group. For this, Union Cooperative Minister Amit Shah launched the CRCS-Sahara refund portal on Tuesday. The whole process related to refund will be explained on this portal. Investors will be able to submit their claims online. If the claim is found correct after investigation, the money will be transferred to the investor’s account.

Who can claim
Only investors who have invested money in any of the four cooperative societies of Sahara Group will be able to submit claims on this portal. The names of these four cooperative societies are:
1. Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited
2. Saharayan Universal Multipurpose Society Limited
3. Hamara India Credit Cooperative Society Limited
4. Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited

10 crore investors affected
About 10 crore investors have deposited money in the four cooperative societies of the Sahara group. About Rs 5,000 crore will be returned to these investors. The government has set a target to complete this entire process in 9 months. The Supreme Court has ordered the transfer of Rs 5,000 crore from the Sahara-SEBI refund account to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS). Sahara investors’ money will be returned from this amount.

Money will be returned in 45 days
Inaugurating the CRCS-Sahara refund portal, Cooperative Minister Amit Shah said, the purpose of this portal is to return the hard earned money of people who deposited in the four cooperative societies of Sahara group in about 45 days. Shah assured the depositors that now no one can stop their money. Investors will get their refund in 45 days from registering on the portal.

Payment stages
Initially, refunds up to Rs 10,000 will be given to depositors through the CRCS-Sahara refund portal. Later the amount will be increased for those who have invested more. Money will be returned to 1.7 crore depositors in the first phase out of Rs 5,000 crore.

2.5 crore people have deposited money
About 2.5 crore people have deposits in four co-operative societies of Sahara group. Each of them has deposited an average of Rs.30,000. After returning Rs 5,000 crore to depositors, the cooperative ministry will request the Supreme Court to release more funds.

Aadhaar and mobile link required
Two things are very important for Sahara investors to get back their trapped money. First, their mobile number should be linked with Aadhaar, and second, the bank account in which the refund is to be deposited should be linked with Aadhaar. The Common Service Centers will help the depositors to register online on the portal.

Ease of process
The ministry of cooperatives has launched this special portal to ease the claim process on behalf of investors of Sahara Group. The portal has been developed for submission of valid claims on behalf of genuine depositors of cooperative societies of Sahara Group.

Ministry sought money from SC
The Ministry of Cooperation had filed an application in the Supreme Court to provide relief to the investors who had deposited money with the cooperative societies of Sahara group. According to the Ministry of Cooperation, Rs 24,979.67 crore is deposited in the Sahara-SEBI refund account. The Sahara Group had deposited this amount in 2012 on the orders of the Supreme Court. The Ministry of Cooperation had filed a petition in the Supreme Court saying that Rs 2,253 crore was deposited in the SEBI-Sahara account by Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited on behalf of Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited (SIRECL). This money belonged to the investors of Sahara Group’s co-operative society. The Ministry of Cooperation had sought Rs 5,000 crore from the Supreme Court to refund the money of the investors of cooperatives.

What is SEBI-Sahara Refund Account
Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Limited (SHICL) raised the money through Optionally Fully Convertible Bonds (OFCD). According to the market regulator SEBI, these Sahara companies raised this money in violation of the rules. In 2011, SEBI ordered Sahara to return this money. Sahara Group challenged this order of SEBI in the Supreme Court in 2012. The Supreme Court upheld the order of SEBI and ordered both the companies of Sahara Group to return the investors’ money with 15 per cent interest. The SEBI-Sahara refund account was opened on the order of the Supreme Court to return investors’ money and Sahara group deposited more than Rs 24,000 crore in this account.