What’s happening with Sahara refunds? ₹5,139 crore paid, process to continue till Dec 31

The Centre has disbursed more than ₹5,139 crore to over 27 lakh investors of Sahara Group’s cooperative societies under the Supreme Court-monitored refund process, the government informed the Parliament on Tuesday.

Over 27 lakh depositors refunded

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah said that as of July 23, 2025, a total of ₹5,139.23 crore had been refunded to 27,33,520 genuine depositors.

The payments were made under a digital and transparent process through Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts, he added.

Four Sahara-linked societies under refund scope

The refunds are part of a Supreme Court order dated March 29, 2023, which allowed ₹5,000 crore to be transferred from the Sahara-SEBI Refund Account to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) for disbursement to depositors of four Sahara-linked multi-state cooperative societies.

These societies are Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd. (Lucknow), Saharayn Universal Multipurpose Society Ltd. (Bhopal), Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Ltd. (Kolkata), and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd. (Hyderabad).

Online portal for refund applications

Eligibility criteria for depositors

Depositors whose matured dues remained unpaid as of March 31, 2023, are eligible to apply.

The current ceiling for individual refund disbursements is ₹50,000 per verified depositor. However, this limit is revised periodically, prioritising small depositors and based on availability of funds.

Over 1 crore depositors yet to be paid

Out of 1,35,34,410 total registered depositors, around 1.08 crore are yet to receive refunds. As on July 23, ₹523.72 crore remained available for disbursement.

The disbursement process is being supervised by former Supreme Court judge Justice R. Subhash Reddy and assisted by advocate Gaurav Agrawal, appointed as amicus curiae by the apex court.

The Supreme Court has extended the deadline for completing the refund disbursal process to December 31, 2025.