The 'CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal' was launched by Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday (July 18), which aims to refund the hard-earned money of millions of depositors in four cooperative societies of the Sahara Group within 45 days.

Describing it as a historic moment, Shah highlighted that this is the first instance where depositors are receiving refunds in a case involving multiple government agencies, each of which has conducted seizures.

He provided assurance to the depositors that their money would not be stopped now, and they will receive their refunds within 45 days after registering on the portal.

The government had announced on March 29 that the money would be returned to 10 crore investors of the four cooperative societies within a span of 9 months. This announcement came after a Supreme Court order directing the transfer of ₹5,000 crore from the Sahara-Sebi refund account to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS).

Initially, depositors will receive a refund of up to ₹10,000 and this amount will be increased for those who have invested larger sums.

The allocated fund of ₹5,000 crore will be sufficient to meet the needs of 1.7 crore depositors in the first phase.

Four cooperative societies, namely Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd, Saharayan Universal Multipurpose Society Ltd, Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd, and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd, have a total of 2.5 crore depositors with amounts up to ₹30,000.

Once the ₹5,000 crore has been utilized, Shah said that the government would approach the Supreme Court to request additional funds for processing the total refunds of other depositors with higher amounts.

The subsidiary of IFCI has developed a portal for depositors of cooperative societies to submit their legitimate claims.

According to Shah, there are two important requirements for depositors to fulfill: registering their Aadhaar with their mobile number and linking their Aadhaar with the bank account where the refund will be deposited.

Shah also mentioned that the Common Services Centre will assist and guide depositors in registering online on the refund portal.

In order to address the grievances of the members and depositors, the Ministry had taken the initiative to file an application in the Supreme Court.

In March, the Supreme Court had ordered the transfer of ₹5,000 crore from the 'Sahara-Sebi Refund Account' to CRCS. This amount was intended for the disbursement of legitimate dues to depositors.

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