More than 1,700 depositors of troubled cooperative institutions have received around Rs26 million in refunds over the past two months, according to data from the Problematic Cooperative Management Committee.

The committee, which has been overseeing the assets, liabilities and loan recovery of crisis-hit cooperatives, said 1,754 depositors from 10 of the 23 cooperatives declared problematic by the federal government received Rs26.39 million by June 29.

The government established a revolving fund after amending the Cooperatives Act through an ordinance to facilitate refunds to depositors. The fund consists of government seed money, which will be reimbursed later, and money recovered from loans issued by troubled cooperatives.

“We are using the available funds to gradually refund depositors,” said Dilli Ram Acharya, chairperson of the committee.

The committee also completed savings adjustments worth Rs17.95 million for 141 depositors by June 29. Savings adjustment refers to offsetting a depositor’s savings against outstanding loans owed to the same cooperative.

During the same period, the committee recovered Rs43.28 million from 154 borrowers. Including refunds and savings adjustments, the committee managed Rs44.34 million, which benefitted 1,895 people.

However, cooperative victims have criticised the refund mechanism, arguing that the process lacks fairness and transparency.

Although the committee says it has prioritised small depositors with savings of up to Rs10,000, Kushal KC, chairperson of the National Campaign for Safeguarding Cooperative Depositors, said many victims remain dissatisfied.

“Victims are not satisfied with the current process. The distribution system is not equitable. Some people have received all their money back, while others haven’t received anything,” KC said. “Whatever funds are available should be distributed proportionally so that every depositor receives at least a partial refund.”

He also questioned the lack of clear criteria for payments and warned that regulatory bodies would have to take responsibility if funds become insufficient in the future.

According to the committee’s data, depositors of Shiva Shikhar Multi-Purpose Cooperative received the largest share of refunds, with 869 people receiving Rs3.26 million.

Similarly, 215 depositors of Kantipur Savings and Credit Cooperative received Rs989,716, while 158 depositors of Tulasi Multipurpose Cooperative received Rs2.05 million.

Other refunds included Rs1.16 million to 349 depositors of Laligurans Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Rs513,000 to 88 depositors of Agricultural Development Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Rs140,000 to 26 depositors of Gorkha Saving and Credit Cooperative and Rs142,000 to 23 depositors of Oriental Cooperative.

The committee also provided smaller refunds to depositors of Hamro Sagarmatha Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Pashupati Saving and Credit Cooperative and Nagarik Kalyan Multi-Purpose Cooperative.

On the recovery side, the committee collected Rs34 million from 77 borrowers between mid-April and mid-May, Rs12.77 million from 53 borrowers between mid-May and mid-June, and Rs2.33 million from 24 borrowers between mid-June and June 29.

The revolving fund was created in April with an initial capital of Rs600 million. Of this, Rs250 million came from the government, while Rs350 million was mobilised through cooperative savings and loan recoveries. Money recovered from borrowers is continuously added back to the fund to support further refunds.

The federal government has so far declared 23 cooperatives crisis-ridden. The liabilities of three institutions with relatively smaller obligations have already been settled. Of the remaining 20 cooperatives, partial refunds have been distributed to depositors of 10.

The scale of the crisis remains significant. According to the committee, around Rs46 billion needs to be returned to nearly 76,000 depositors affected by the troubled cooperatives.

Among them, 17,000 depositors have claims below Rs25,000, while another 9,000 have deposits ranging between Rs25,000 and Rs50,000. A total of 36,522 depositors have claims of up to Rs100,000, while 21,619 depositors are owed between Rs100,000 and Rs500,000.

The number of depositors with claims exceeding Rs500,000 stands at 18,303. The committee said most affected savers are small depositors, with only a minority holding larger amounts.