Sebi extends bid deadline for verification job in Sahara case

Market watchdog Sebi has extended the deadline for the second time for submission of bids by public sector banks and KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs) to conduct "in-person verification" of investors in the high-profile Sahara case.

The interested parties have been now asked to submit bids till January 15, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a notice for those interested in the tender.

Sebi had first floated this tender on November 2 and had asked the public sector banks and KRAs to submit their applications by November 22. However, Sebi later extended the deadline for bid submission to December 21, while the same has been now extended till January 15.

"The Last date and time for submission of the Tender is extended upto 2:30 pm on January 15, 2013 and the Technical Bid will be opened at 03:30pm on the same day. All other terms and conditions of the Tender remain unchanged," Sebi said.

A pre-bid meeting was held by Sebi with interested parties on November 7, wherein at least four entities -- Karvy, CAMS, NSDL and CDSL -- had evinced their interest.

The selected 'In-Person Verification (IPV) Agency' would be mandated to interact "face-to-face" with all investors in the Sahara case to ascertain their genuineness. Sebi has been mandated by the Supreme Court to facilitate refund of money with 15 per cent interest to the bondholders of two Sahara group firms after ascertaining their genuineness.

In its order dated August 31, the Supreme Court had asked Sebi to ascertain the genuineness of an estimated three crore bondholders of OFCDs (Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures) of two Sahara group companies (Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd and Sahara Real Estate Corporation Ltd) and thereafter facilitate refund of the money with the interest.

After this, Sebi had decided to carry out in-person verification of these bondholders, for which it is seeking the services of public sector banks and KRAs.

Since then, Supreme Court has passed another order, wherein Sahara group has been allowed to refund the money in three installments till first week of February, as against the earlier order of refund in three months.

Sebi is also appointing investigating agencies to assist it in this matter, while it is also hiring a Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA) for investor data and payment processing related works in the case.

The RTA's job would involve scanning and verification of investor documents, setting up and managing of toll-free investor helpline and grievance redressal cell and processing of payments to the genuine investors.