Sebi unreasonably holding Rs 25,000 cr, says Sahara

Lucknow: In the Sebi's annual report released on August 4, 2021, the market regulator accepted that it has repaid only Rs 129 crore to Sahara's investors while the money deposited by the company is Rs 23,191 crore including interest, as on March 31, 2021, Sahara said in a statement on Friday.

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 the company and its 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 are no more claimants to be paid. This means that, Sahara's entire Rs 25,000 crore deposit is unreasonably held by Sebi and should be returned to Sahara, the company said.

Sahara has given all the original documents pertaining to its three 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, the company added.

This is unfortunate and unacceptable that Sebi is holding on Rs 25,000 crores deposited by Sahara and doing nothing. This huge amount of money is lying unutilized, idle in the banks which is not only hurting the interest of Sahara as a business organization but also impeding the economic growth of our country especially in these testing times of economic slowdown. Sahara has always built its businesses by productively channelizing 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, said Sahara.

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 organization to generate more employment and work and helped the country and therefore its economy, the company added.