Sahara Group’s real estate arms deposited Rs 15,485 cr in SEBI fund till Nov 2021: FM

Sahara India Group’s real estate arm Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Limited (SIRECL) and its housing finance arm Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Limited (SHICL)  and their promoters and directors have deposited Rs 15,485.80 crores against the principal amount of Rs 25,781.37 crore into the designated ‘SEBI-Sahara Refund’ account as on November 30, 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha in a written reply to Shiv Sena leader Gajanan Kirtikar’s question.

“As regard Sahara India group not being able to pay back the investors of other schemes, it informed the principal amount raised under RHP of Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures of SIRECL and SHICL is Rs 25,781.37 crore against which only Rs 15,485.80 crore has been deposited in SEBI-Sahara refund account and the SEBI has been facilitating the repayment of principal and interest to the investors who invested in Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures of SIRECL and SHICL,” the Union Finance Minister underscored. 

She further added that SIRECL and SHICL and their promoters and directors have collected around Rs 25,781.37 crore from ~3.07 crore investors via Red Herring Prospectus (RHP) on Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures dated March 3, 2008 and October 16, 2009 of SIRECL and SHICL, respectively, along with 15 per cent per annum interest to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) from the date of receipt of the subscription amount till the date of repayment.

When asked how many investors have got the refund so far, the Union Minister said that SEBI made refunds with regard to 17,526 eligible bondholders involving 48,326 Original Bond Certificates/Pass Books for an aggregate amount of Rs 138.07 crore – Rs 70.09 crore as principal amount and Rs 67.98 crore as interest via NEFT or RTGS. SEBI received 19,644 applications involving 53,642 Original Bond Certificates/Pass Books for an aggregate amount of Rs 81.70 crore.

She also said that SEBI had issued a press release on May 28, 2013 and multiple advertisements during August-September 2014 and December 2014 regarding how bondholders can apply for refund in keeping with the directions issued by the Supreme and Justice (Retired) BN Agarwal. Sitharaman noted that these ads were put out on the SEBI website and the bondholders were also advised to apply for the refund of the money.

The markets regulator issued final adverts regarding this on March 26, 2018 and June 19,2018 informing the bondholders that July 2, 2018 is the last date for receiving refund applications and that no application will be accepted after July 2, 2018. She said that till SEBI has filed 22 status reports regarding the same before the Supreme Court till date and it also filed an Interlocutory Application on October 21, 2021 seeking further directions from the top court.

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