KATHMANDU: The government has refunded the savings of an additional 304 small depositors from troubled cooperatives.

The Problematic Cooperative Management Committee returned the funds to small depositors of Krishi Cooperative and Shiva Shikhar Multipurpose Cooperative on Wednesday.

According to the committee, 88 depositors from Krishi Cooperative and 216 depositors from Shiva Shikhar Multipurpose Cooperative received their savings back.

Previously, the committee had refunded 378 small depositors, which included 215 from Kantipur Cooperative, 156 from Shiva Shikhar Multipurpose Cooperative, and seven from Pashupati Cooperative.

According to the committee, depositors with smaller savings amounts are being refunded in the first phase. Moving forward, refunds will continue sequentially based on the classification of the depositors’ savings amounts.

The committee notes that approximately Rs 46 billion needs to be refunded to around 76,000 depositors of troubled cooperatives, the majority of whom are small depositors.

Depositors with savings under 500,000 rupees are classified as small depositors, while those with more than 500,000 rupees are categorized as large depositors.

Out of the total 76,000 depositors, the committee stated that only 18,000 have savings exceeding Rs 500,000.