KATHMANDU: The government’s efforts to return the savings of depositors in troubled cooperatives have made only limited progress, despite claims that the process has been accelerated.

According to the Problematic Cooperative Management Committee, 76,399 depositors have savings stuck in 23 cooperatives declared problematic by the government. Since the formation of the new government, only 3,178 depositors, or 4.15% of the affected savers, have received refunds.

The progress is even weaker when measured by the amount returned. Depositors have a total of Rs 45.05 billion locked in the troubled cooperatives, but only Rs 42.05 million has been refunded so far—just 0.09% of the total amount due.

The government began distributing refunds to depositors of troubled cooperatives from May 29. Since then, the committee has distributed the money in six rounds, with eligible depositors receiving up to Rs 10,000 each.

Committee chair Dilli Raj Acharya said the return of funds to more than 3,000 depositors within a short period represents significant progress. However, the committee’s own data show that tens of thousands of depositors are still waiting for their savings.

The committee has also intensified efforts to recover loans from borrowers of troubled cooperatives. So far, Rs 66.91 million has been recovered from 244 borrowers. However, more than 26,000 borrowers are estimated to have outstanding loans.

The committee has begun identifying major borrowers and taking measures such as freezing the bank accounts of borrowers, guarantors and family members. Officials say detailed data on borrowers and loan recovery will be published in the coming weeks.

Kushal Bhav K.C., president of the National Federation for Resolving Cooperative and Financial Problems, said refunding Rs 10,000 to a limited number of depositors cannot address the underlying crisis.

Although the government has highlighted the number of people receiving refunds, he said the scale of the outstanding liabilities shows that the actual progress remains extremely small. More than 76,000 depositors are still affected, with around Rs 45 billion yet to be returned.

Previous governments had returned Rs 836.52 million to 1,219 depositors and settled accounts involving another Rs 537.17 million.

Including previous refunds and account settlements, the overall progress in resolving the savings of depositors in troubled cooperatives stands at only 2.09%, highlighting the scale of the challenge facing the government in resolving the cooperative crisis.

The figures indicate that while the government has made some progress in reaching individual depositors, the financial scale of the crisis remains largely unresolved.