Samruddha Jeevan Foods India Limited is an unlisted company that was involved in collecting deposits from the general public without obtaining requisite mandatory approvals. The company was running Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) without complying with the SEBI Regulation, 1999, and raised over Rs.300 crore.
Samruddha Jeevan was raising money from the general public to carry out the business of “purchase and rearing of goats/buffaloes’ and sheep farming. Under its various schemes, the company was offering to double the money in five and half years, as well as promising an amount equivalent to 1.5 times the contract value as ‘accidental death help’.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India began the probe after receiving multiple complaints about the company agents promising “more than 12 percent fixed returns on investments in cattle and goat farms”.
The company’s financial statements clearly showed all the money it has raised from innocent customers during the fiscal year 2009-2010, 2010-2011, and 2011-12. The company also spent over Rs 56 crore on ‘advertisement and sales promotion using depositors’ money.
What were the actions taken by SEBI?
In September 2015, Markets regulator SEBI asked Samruddha Jeevan Foods India and its directors to wind up the existing CIS and refund investors money in three months collected through unauthorized cattle and goat farm schemes.
The company and its directors — Mahesh Kisan Motewar, Mrs. Vaishali Mahesh Motewar, and Rajendra Pandering Bhandare have been barred from the capital market till all the CIS are wound up, and all the money mobilized through such schemes are refunded to its investors with returns which are due to them.
In addition, the directors have been barred from selling any assets of the company, except to make refunds to its investors.
Samruddha Jeevan Foods India Limited Refund Status- Latest Update
On 19th January 2022, a penalty worth the sum of Rs. 1, 72, 10, 315 is imposed on Samruddha Jeevan by the Adjudicating Officer, which is due to SEBI. The penalty was deemed fit as the company failed to repay its investors.
The recovery proceedings were initiated against Samruddha Jeevan after they failed to pay over Rs. 300 crore, which was due to investors. However, in February 2022, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) upheld the SEBI decision after the companys director filed an appeal questioning SEBIs veracity. Though the appeal was later rejected by the tribunal.
Around 13 lakh investors of Samruddha Jeevan Ltd. are yet to get a refund. Though the mastermind of the scam, Mahesh Motewar, was arrested in 2015, and all the companies properties have been sealed, recovery proceedings and refund processes are yet to begin.