SEBI Marks About Rs 78,000 Crore As 'Difficult-To-Recover' Dues in FY25

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has marked dues worth about Rs 77,800.4 crore as “difficult to recover” in its annual report for financial year 2024-25.

The dues are amounts that remain unrecovered despite exhausting all recovery measures. SEBI’s policy for classifying such cases is based on parameters followed by the Income Tax Department. This is administrative in nature, and does not prevent recovery officers from pursuing these amounts further.

As of March 31, 2025, out of 4,335 pending recovery certificates, 899 have been classified as DTR. Of these, 143 fall under the “untraceable” category — 136 against individuals (Rs 15.39 crore) and seven against companies (Rs 14.34 crore).

SEBI reported 539 recovery-related cases pending before various courts and tribunals, with most before the Securities Appellate Tribunal. These include large matters such as Pearl Agrotech Corp. (Rs 49,100 crore), HBN Dairies & Allied Ltd. (Rs 1,136 crore) and Kuber Planters Ltd. (Rs 2,462.17 crore) — some of which are counted multiple times due to being heard in more than one forum.

The regulator’s Special Enforcement Cell, set up to execute Supreme Court directions on refunding investors of Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd. (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd. (SHICL), has so far recovered about Rs 16,138 crore.

This amount, along with accrued interest after making eligible refunds, has been deposited in nationalised banks as fixed deposits totalling Rs 24,227 crore as on March 31, 2025.

Refunds worth Rs 138.07 crore have been made to eligible bondholders, and remaining applications were closed due to non-traceable records or lack of responses. The refund process remains at the same stage as last year, with SEBI awaiting further Supreme Court directions.

In October 2021, SEBI sought court orders on utilising the remaining Sahara funds, including possible transfer to the Government of India. During a Feb. 12, 2025 hearing, the Supreme Court issued notices to relevant ministries and Maharashtra’s Chief Secretary regarding the status of Versova land.

The apex court directed SEBI, Sahara India Commercial Corporation Ltd. (SICCL), and appointed property experts to jointly explore monetisation options under the supervision of Amicus Curiae Shekhar Naphade. The matter is pending before the court.