SEBI in its latest annual report said it has not made any fresh refund during 2025-26.
More than eight years after the capital market regulator started the process of refunding investors in the infamous Sahara case, SEBI is now sitting on a cash pile of ₹21,505 crore.
SEBI in its latest annual report said it has not made any fresh refund during 2025-26. The balance in the Sahara refund account increased to about ₹16,379 crore as of March-end 2026 against ₹16,138 crore in FY25. The balance was against the principal liability of ₹25,781 crore, it said.
As of March-end, the total fund balance, including accrued interest in FDs across various nationalised banks, stood at about ₹21,505 crore after remitting ₹5,000 crore to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies for disbursing to the investors in schemes of Sahara Group of Co-operative Societies.
Both the Sahara Group companies have filed an application in the Supreme Court to sell the entire remaining asset to Adani Properties. In January, SEBI submitted its response before the Supreme Court emphasising that sale of Sahara properties should be done in a transparent and fair manner by providing opportunities for all interested purchasers and subject to the conditions mentioned by Supreme Court. Currently, the matter is pending before the Supreme Court, said SEBI.
Sonam Chandwani, Managing Partner, KS Legal & Associates said the more pressing concern is the absence of a clear end point. A refund mechanism cannot realistically continue indefinitely without a defined procedure for dormant or disputed claims, she said.
Definite roadmap
The court should require the authorities to publish a definite roadmap showing how long claims will remain open, how unresolved claims will be dealt with and what will happen to the balance thereafter, she added.
The special enforcement cell was constituted by SEBI to specifically implement the directions of the Supreme Court to refund the amounts collected from investors of Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation. The activities of SEBI in this matter are monitored by Justice (retd) BN Agarwal appointed by the Supreme Court in this matter.
In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that two Sahara Group companies illegally raised over ₹24,000 crore through optionally fully convertible debentures from 23 million investors mostly small-towns bypassing market regulator rules and ordered full refund with 15 per cent interest.
Published on August 19, 2026
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