Market watchdog the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has extended the deadline by one month for submission of bids by public sector banks and KYC registration agencies (KRAs) to conduct in-person verification of about three crore investors in the high-profile Sahara case to ascertain their genuineness.

Sebi had floated a tender in this regard on November 2 and had earlier asked the public sector banks and KYC registration agencies to submit their applications by November 22.

However, Sebi has now decided to extend the deadline for bid submission to December 21 and would open the technical bids on the same day.

Earlier, the technical bids were scheduled to be opened on November 22, while a pre-bid meeting was held by the market regulator with the

interested parties on November 7.

The selected in-person verification (IPV) agency would be mandated to interact face-to-face with all investors in the Sahara case to ascertain their genuineness. The market regulator has been mandated by the Supreme Court to facilitate refund of about Rs 24,000 crore with 15 per cent interest to the bondholders of two Sahara group firms after ascertaining their genuineness. (PTI)