Roughly five years ago, the Supreme Court ordered the Sahara Group to deposit around Rs24,000 crore with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

To date, Sahara has deposited Rs11,798 crore, which has grown to Rs14,487 crore on account of interest, with the regulator.

And till 31 March, Sebi has managed to return only Rs85.03 crore to investors, according to two people who have seen the annual accounts tabled by the regulator at its board meeting on 21 June.

The number is believable because Sebi’s annual report for 2015-16 said it had refunded Rs55.72 crore; and its annual report for 2014-15, Rs42 crore.