Sahara Depositors Refund: The Ministry of Cooperation has disbursed ₹5,139.23 crore to 27.33 lakh depositors of Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies through the CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal, as of July 23, 2025. The information was shared by Union Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
This disbursement follows the Supreme Court‘s order dated March 29, 2023, in WP (C) No.191/2022 (Pinak Pani Mohanty vs Union of India & Others), directing the transfer of ₹5,000 crore from the “Sahara-SEBI Refund Account” to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) for refund to genuine depositors. The apex court also mandated that the disbursement be supervised by Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Former Judge of the Supreme Court, with assistance from Shri Gaurav Agrawal, Advocate and Amicus Curiae.
Launched on July 18, 2023, the CRCS-Sahara Refund Portal (https://mocrefund.crcs.gov.in) allows eligible depositors of four Multi-State Cooperative Societies—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—to submit claims for refund.
Depositors whose matured deposits remained unpaid as of March 31, 2023, are eligible to apply. Refunds are processed digitally, with verified claims credited directly to Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts. Initially, refunds were capped at ₹50,000 per depositor, but the ceiling is being raised gradually, prioritizing small depositors and subject to fund availability.
In case of deficiencies in submitted claims, depositors are notified and allowed to resubmit their applications through the “Resubmission Portal” (https://mocresubmit.crcs.gov.in), operational since November 15, 2023.
Out of 1.35 crore registered depositors, over 27 lakh have already received payments. As of now, ₹523.72 crore remains available for further disbursement. The Supreme Court has extended the deadline for processing refunds under this scheme till December 31, 2025.
