Published : 19 July 2023
By : Sachin Gupta
In order to start the process of reimbursing claims totaling 5,000 crore of millions of small depositors whose investments were essentially wiped out after the collapse of cooperative societies of the Sahara Group following a scam two decades ago, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah launched the Sahara refund portal on Tuesday.
Genuine depositors, mostly small savers, who lost money in the fraud involving the Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Saharayan Universal Multipurpose Society Limited, Hamara India Credit Cooperative Society Limited, and Stars Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited will be able to file claims through the government-launched portal.
Each depositor will be eligible for a first phase payout of Rs.10,000 in the portal, which will handle claims from nearly 10.78 million depositors. Investor refunds will be deposited into their bank accounts within 45 days of the claims being examined.
Depositors must download a form from the portal, fill it out with the necessary paperwork, and upload it along with data from a bank account linked to their Aadhaar and mobile number in order to request a refund.