Rs 8,800 crore disbursed to Sahara depositors: Amit Shah

Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday informed Parliament that Rs 8,800 crore has been disbursed to over 40 lakh depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies till last month.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, the minister said that as of February, 2026, 1.45 crore applications and 4.06 crore claims have been made by the investors on the CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal.

“An amount of Rs 8,783.55 crore has been disbursed to 40,33,448 investors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies,” Shah said.

The refund process is being carried out in compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court.

“The applications received on the portal are processed in a transparent manner, on proper identification and on submitting proof of their identity and deposits. The payment is deposited directly in the Aadhaar-seeded bank account of genuine depositors,” Shah said. Presently, payment of up to Rs 50,000 is being disbursed to each genuine depositor of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies against verified claims through an Aadhaar-seeded bank account.

Depositors have been asked to resubmit their applications in case of any deficiency in the application. The Supreme Court has ordered that an additional amount of Rs 5,000 crore be transferred from the ‘Sahara-SEBI Refund Account’ to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies and granted an extension for the disbursement of refund to the depositors up to December 31, 2026.