Sahara India Pariwar, in a statement issued to the media today, said that in last around 2 to 2.25 months alone, the group has paid Rs.3226.03 Crore to its 10,17,194 Members. Out of the total amount paid in this period, 2.18% payments were made against the requests from the delayed-payments complainants. The total delayed-payment complainants are 0.07 % of the total number of esteemed investors. Sahara has around 8 crore investors across India.
Sahara in last 10 years has made maturity payment of Rs. 1,40,157.51 Crore to 5,76,77,339 esteemed investors. Out of this only around 40% cases are of reinvestment, the rest have been paid in cash.
The group admits delay in payments, which is primarily owing to the embargo imposed for last 8 years by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. If any money is generated through selling or mortgaging assets of the group (including Co-operatives) or from joint ventures the same has to be deposited in the Sahara-SEBI account, as per the directives of Hon’ble Supreme Court. Sahara official said, “We cannot use even a single rupee for organizational work, not even for repayment to the esteemed investors.”
On the other hand, Sahara, till date, has deposited approximately Rs. 22,000 Crore including interest in the Sahara-SEBI account, whereas, despite giving four rounds of advertisements in 154 newspapers by SEBI in last 8 years across the country, SEBI has repaid only Rs. 106.10 Crore to the esteemed investors. In its last advertisement that was published around a year ago, SEBI made it clear that it would not entertain any further claim thereafter. It means that for SEBI there is no claimant left. The only reason that SEBI didn’t receive any further claim was that Sahara Group had already repaid to its esteemed investors. As per the directives of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, this amount of Rs. 22,000 Crore will eventually come back to Sahara after due verification.
Sahara spokesperson clarified that some of the media reports are creating the impression that Sahara is in Chit Fund business, which is completely wrong and misleading information. Sahara was never in Chit Fund business, neither in the past nor is in present. Sahara has always worked under the regulatory legal framework.
Sahara India Pariwar said, “We have paid each and every depositor. And the interest of our esteemed investors has always been paramount to us. Sahara has been well serving its members for last 42 years and will continue to do so. Whatever money has been received from the members has been taken by fully following the legal procedures. But, because of the impact of the directive of the Hon’ble Supreme Court we are making a bit delayed repayments. However, we are giving interest for the delayed period. The same has been communicated through newspaper ads to our esteemed investors. We also like to inform that Sahara India Pariwar has assets three times its liability. Therefore, every investor should rest assured regarding their repayment.”
