RBI cancels Sahara India Financial Corporation's NBFC registration

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India on Monday cancelled the certificate of registration of Sahara India Financial Corporation, a non-banking finance company, with effect from September 3.

With this mandate, the Lucknow-headquartered Sahara India Financial Corporation cannot conduct the business of a non-banking financial institution, the central bank said in a release.

The move came in wake of several alleged irregularities and violation of financial rules and regulations by Sahara.

Sahara Group has been engaged in a long-running regulatory and legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Earlier, the capital market regulator ordered refund by two Sahara entities.

The group chairman Subrata Roy has been behind the bars over past one year. A few months ago, Sebi had cancelled the registration of Sahara Mutual Fund as the entity failed to qualify as "fit and proper" any more to run business.

The Supreme Court earlier said, the Sahara group owes as much as Rs 36,000 crore to bond investors. This is supposed to be deposited within 18 months and in nine installments.