RBI directs Sahara to induct two independent directors

When contacted, an RBI spokesperson confirmed that the RNBC has been asked to include two `prominent’ people on the board as directors. There is no response from Sahara on this matter, RBI sources said.

Sahara India is currently operating various businesses which include an airline, a controversial resort project in Lonavala near Mumbai, and mass communication. The group claims aturnover of Rs 6,000 crore from these operations. As none of the Sahara group companies are listed in any stock exchanges, details on the financial health of its group companies are missing.

RBI officials say that as per their norms, the RNBC was supposed to invest its 80 per cent deposits collected from the public into government securities and term deposits. "After our notices to the company, the company gave details of its investments, and we found that various RBI regulations have not been adhered to," officials say. Post-CRB, the RBI had come out with strigent guidelines for NBFCs, but it had excluded RNBCs. Currently, RNBCs have a stringent fund deployment pattern, ie, they are required to invest at least 10 per cent of the deposits in liquid assets in gilts, maintain at least 10 per cent of the aggregate amount of liabilities to depositors in fixed and certificate of deposits, maintain a minimum of 60 per cent of total deposits in bonds or debentures or commercial paper of a government company orpublic sector bank or financial institution.