Amit Shah launches refund portal to help 10 crore Sahara depositors

Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched the "CRCS-Sahara refund portal" to help more than 10 million Sahara Group depositors get their money back within 45 days.

Completing this historic moment, Shah said depositors will get the money within 45 days of registering on the portal. “The process of refund of depositors stuck in four cooperative societies of Sahara Group has started with the launch of Sahara Refund Portal,” the Union Home Minister said.

On March 29, the Center said money would be returned to 10 million investors of four cooperative societies within nine months. This was followed by a Supreme Court order directing the transfer of Rs 5,000 crore from the Sahara-Sebi refund account to the Central Registrar of Co-operative Societies (CRCS).

Here's everything you need to know about the launch of the CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal:

About 2.5 million people have deposits of up to Rs 30,000 in 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. The refund portal has been developed by a subsidiary company of IFCI Ltd, for submitting legitimate claims of depositors of these cooperatives.

The portal was launched by Amit Shah today and depositors can visit the website at mocrefund.crcs.gov.in to claim their money back.

How much money will be refunded?

The Ministry of Cooperation in a statement on July 17 said, “To address the grievances of genuine members/depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies for payment of their legitimate deposits, the Ministry of Cooperation has filed an application in the Supreme Court. India. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in its order dated March 29, 2023 ordered that Rs. 5,000 crores will be transferred from the "Sahara-SEBI Refund Account" to the Central Registrar of Co-operative Societies (CRCS) for disbursement against the legitimate dues of the genuine depositors of the Sahara Group of Co-operative Societies.

Amit Shah said today that depositors will be compensated up to Rs 10,000 to begin with and subsequently the amount will be increased for those who have invested higher amounts. He added that in the first phase, a corpus of Rs 5,000 crore will be able to cater to the needs of depositors of Rs 1.7 crore.

"Once the Rs 5,000 crore is utilised, we will approach the Supreme Court and request it to release more money so that the total compensation from other depositors with higher amounts can be processed," Shah said.

How to request a refund from the CRCS-Sahara refund portal?

According to Amit Shah, depositors need two important things: Aadhaar enrollment using mobile and linking Aadhaar with the bank account where the refund is to be deposited. Depositors will also be required to provide confirmation details and will need to download the form, fill it and re-upload it to the refund processing portal.

Shah said the Common Service Center will also help and guide depositors to register online on the portal for refund.