Sebi unreasonably holding Rs 25,000 crore of Sahara, investors

NEW DELHI: In its annual report submitted on August 4, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) admitted to have repaid only Rs 129 crore to Saharas investors while the money deposited by Sahara is Rs 23,191 crore including interest, as on March 31, 2021.
However as per Sahara’s estimate, the money deposited in Sahara SEBI account including interest is around Rs 25,000 Crore. SEBI is unreasonably holding Rs 25,000 Crore money of Sahara and it’s investors, the company said.

SEBI after giving four rounds of advertisements in 154 newspapers in the last nine years across the country has repaid only Rs 129 crore to the esteemed investors of Sahara.
In its last advertisement that was published in April 2018, SEBI made it clear that it would not entertain any further claim received after July 2018. It means that for SEBI there is no more claimants to be paid. This means that, Sahara’s entire Rs 25,000 crore deposited by it is unreasonably held by SEBI and should be returned to Sahara, it added.

Sahara has given all the original documents pertaining to its 3 crore investors to SEBI nine years back for verification and as per the directives of the Supreme Court, this amount of Rs 25,000 Crore will eventually come back to Sahara.

“This is unfortunate and unacceptable that SEBI is holding on Rs 25,000 crore deposited by Sahara and doing nothing. This huge amount of money is lying unutilised, idle in the banks which is not only hurting the interest of Sahara as a business organisation but also impeding the economic growth of our country especially in these testing times of economic slowdown,” the company said.

It added that Sahara has always built its businesses by productively channelising human capital spread across India and giving employment and work at people’s doorstep. In this way, Sahara is providing bread and butter to more than 14 lakh people in their own villages and towns. It is the country’s second largest human capital after Indian Railways. This Rs 25,000 crore which SEBI is holding unreasonably could have been used by the organisation to generate more employment and work and helped the country and therefore its economy.

Source: TimesofIndia