Sahara to move court for submitting fresh deeds to bank instead of Sebi

SC had directed Sahara to deposit title deeds of assets worth Rs 20,000 cr as guarantee against deposits raised by the firm via OFCD

A week after the Supreme Court restricted Sahara chief Subrata Roy from leaving the country for failing to furnish proper title deeds worth Rs 20000 crore to Sebi, he said, Sahara would seek the court’s permission to deposit the deeds to a nationalized bank instead.

In an order dated October 28, the court had directed Sahara to deposit unencumbered title deeds of their assets worth Rs 20,000 crore as a guarantee against deposits raised by the company through OFCD (Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures). Sebi found some of the deeds unacceptable in the absence of original deeds and overhaul of valuations, before the latest SC order came.

Sebi had raised objections on Sahara’s OFCD, as it violated norms for raising public deposits.

Sahara has identified fresh title deeds out of its total immovable assets worth nearly Rs 1,20000 crore, and will comply with the SC order, said Roy.

“Sebi wants to kill time, we want to save time. Sebi has got an order from SC for verification of all investors, but so far it was not started even with one. This is clearly a vengeance situation,” said Roy.

Meanwhile, the deposit taking business of Sahara has not been affected by the Sebi order, and it continues to grow, he said. The company has outstanding public deposits worth Rs 35,000 crore at present, he said.     

Also, Sahara would continue with its expansion plans and hire nearly 48,000 mid level executives in the next nine to 10 months, and about 250,000 lower level employees in the next two-and-a-half years. Revenue from new investments by the company in the next eight to ten years would touch Rs 18,00,000 crore, he said. The company’s investments include a mega township project over 500 acre a 500 bed hospitality project in West Bengal, and a dairy project in Madhya Pradesh. This apart, the company  would invest  in the education sector that would create nearly 18,000 class rooms in the near future, said Roy.

Roy also accused Sebi of undervaluing Sahara’s property deeds, which were submitted earlier. Asked why Sahara failed to furnish original title deeds on the earlier occasion, Roy said the original deeds were lost in floods.

“Properties for which the government circle rate was Rs 5 crore per acre and market price of Rs 9.5 crore and acre, Sebi could manage to get the valuations at Rs 54 lakh per acre. Today the fair value of all the assets of Sahara Group is Rs 1,20,000 crore,” he said.  

Sahara had already deposited nearly Rs 22,000 crore with Sebi so far, said Roy.   

Further, the present value of Sahara’s investments in immovable properties abroad would be close to Rs 10500 crore, and the company was not planning to sell any of its foreign properties, said Roy.

In 2012, Sahara acquired two iconic New York hotels-New York Plaza and Dream New York-both based near Manhattan's Central Park, while in 2010, it had had acquired Grosvenor House in London in 2010.   

On succession plans, Roy said, the company would be run by a trust in future and it will never have a profit-making owner.