“Sahara Matter Will Continue Even After Subrata Roy’s Death”: SEBI Chief

SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch on Thursday stated that Sahara matter will continue for the capital markets regulator even after the death of the group’s founder Subrata Roy as it is regarding the conduct of an entity.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a FICCI event, Buch stated that for SEBI, the matter was about an entity’s conduct and it will continue regardless of whether an individual is alive or not.

Roy, the controversial founder of the Sahara group, passed away at the age of 75 on November 14 after a prolonged illness.

The undistributed funds totalling over Rs 25,000 crore lying with the capital markets regulator’s account came back into focus after Subrata Roy’s demise.

Back in 2011, capital markets regulator Sebi ordered 2 Sahara Group firms, Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd to refund the money raised from nearly 3 crore investors through certain bonds known as Optionally Fully Convertible Bonds.

This order came after the regulator ruled that the funds were raised by the 2 firms in violation of its rules & regulations.
After a long process of appeals and cross-appeals, the apex Court on August 31, 2012 upheld Sebi’s directions asking the 2 firms to refund the money collected from investors with 15% interest.

Sahara was eventually asked to deposit an estimated Rs 24,000 crore with Sebi for further refund to investors, though the group has been maintaining that it had already refunded more than 95% of investors directly.

According to the capital markets regulator’s latest annual report, the Securities and Exchange Board of India issued Rs 138.07 crore in refunds over 11 years to investors of 2 Sahara Group firms.

Meanwhile, the amount deposited in specially-opened bank accounts for the repayment has risen to more than Rs 25,000 crore.