Of the nearly 32 lakh customers of AgriGold, majority of them are small depositors hailing from rural and semi urban areas spread over AP, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Orissa mostly. In the court proceedings, the SBI has put a comparatively lower estimated cost of Rs. 366 crore for AgriGold’s main property Haailand. This has raised concerns among depositors. The management’s estimate of this resort was Rs. 1,000 crore while the government has given its figure as Rs. 600 crore.

Nearly Rs. 6,380 crore was due for repayment to the victims of AgriGold and about 19 lakh of depositors are from Andhra Pradesh. The court’s order allowing SBI to sell the Group’s Haailand prime property near Amaravati has not brought much cheer to the depositors. SBI and two other banks have to recover loans worth Rs. 94.62 crore from AgriGold group.

Now that the banks showed lower estimated costs of Haailand property, the depositors and agents are left in a state of shock. From the beginning, AgriGold management has canvassed far superior values for Haailand, thereby attracting agents to collect huge deposits. They put estimated cost of this resort at over Rs. 1,000 crore four years ago itself. With the lower costs being quoted now, depositors are doubtful whether they will get their payments at all.

A 65-year-old depositor named Karri Gurumurthy in Visakhapatnam area collapsed due to heart attack on listening to news of low values of AgriGold property. The incident happened at his residence at Sangivalasa village. Gurumurthy has put deposits of nearly Rs. 20 lakh with the hope of using these savings to support his family members in his old age.