Sahara assets: RBI asks banks to comply with Sebi order

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to comply with the Security and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) order to freeze Sahara group accounts and bar any transfer of assets.

In February, Sebi had written to around 2,000 entities, including public and private sector banks, along with co-operative banks and mutual funds, to identify assets belonging to the Sahara group.

The letter followed a Sebi order passed on February 13, for attachment of assets of two Sahara group companies - Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd (SHICL) - and four individuals, namely, Subrata Roy Sahara, Vandana Bhargava, Ravi Shankar Dubey, and Ashok Roy Choudhary.

Since banks come under RBI's purview, a communication from the central bank has helped implement the Sebi decision. SIRECL and SHICL have raised investments of Rs 24,000 crore through debentures.

Both the stock markets regulator and the Supreme Court (SC) found irregularities in the way the firms raised the money.

The SC asked Sahara to deposit the money with Sebi to facilitate a full refund. Sahara deposited Rs 5,120 core with the regulator, claiming Rs 19,400 crore had already been paid back to investors.