The
Supreme Court’s direction was one thing, but how does Sahara
group’s three crore investors get back the Rs 24,000 crore the company is
supposed to refund them? As per the company’s admission, a vast majority of
these investors don’t have a bank account, whereas the Securities and Exchange
Board of India (Sebi) proposes to transfer the money through payment methods
that require a bank account.
“Around
90% of our depositors, investors are those very small investors, who never go
to banks and banks too never reach them,” Sahara said in an advertisement
issued the day after the SC asked it to refund the money raised by two of its
group companies — Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd and Sahara Housing
Investment Corporation Ltd — through optionally fully convertible debentures.
If
needed, Sebi could take the help of an outside agency, the SC had said. Sebi
subsequently came out with a tender asking registrar and transfer agents (RTAs)
to bid for handling the work.
While
the tender document does not mention Sahara, figures of 3 crore investors and 30 crore documents correspond to
publicly available numbers concerning the Sahara
case.
A
subsequent document discusses electronic payment as the main method of
redemption. “At present, it is proposed to make payments through NEFT/RTGS.
However, depending upon the need to make payments through warrants, the RTA
would have to make necessary arrangements for the same,” it said.
RTGS
(Real Time Gross Settlement) and NEFT (National Electronics Funds Transfer
System) involve direct transfer of money from one account to another. A warrant
too requires a bank account for deposit.
Emails
sent to Sahara and Sebi representatives did not receive a response.
The Problem
The SC
has directed the Sahara group to refund Rs 24,000 crore among its investors. However, most of
them do not have a bank account. Sebi proposes to transfer the money through
methods which need a bank account.
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