The Supreme Court of India has ordered Sahara Group to pay back Rs 24,000 crore to three crore investors, but returning the money will not be straightforward task as a vast majority of the investors do not possess a bank account.

Market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has proposed to transfer the money via payment methods, which require a bank account.

Currently, it is proposed to make the money transfers via NEFT (National Electronics Funds Transfer System) and RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement), or warrants. Both NEFT and RTGS involve direct money transfer from one account to another, while a warrant requires a bank account for deposit.

Sahara admitted in a statement, "Around 90% of our depositors, investors are those very small investors, who never go to banks and banks too never reach them."

The apex court had also said that the market regulator could take the help of an outside agency. The market regulator then issued a tender asking registrar and transfer agents to place bids for handling the work of money transfer.

Two companies of Sahara Group, viz. Sahara India Real Estate Corp. Ltd. and Sahara Housing Investment Corp. Ltd. had raised the money via optionally fully convertible debentures.