Raj Royals co-owners' plea for equity transfer abroad rejected

The finance ministry is understood to have turned down, for the second time, a proposal of Jaipur IPL Cricket (JIPL), the joint owners of the Rajasthan Royals IPL team, to transfer its entire equity abroad in a cashless transaction.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has turned down the JIPL plea on objections from the sports ministry, the sources said.

The JIPL proposal was to induct 100 per cent foreign equity by issuing shares for consideration other than cash inflow was taken up at the FIPB meeting last week. JIPL approached the government second time for reconsideration of its proposal after it was rejected earlier last October.

After deferring it several times, the FIPB has finally rejected the JIPL request. "There was no ground for reconsideration," the official said.

The England-based Emerging Medial and the Mauritius-based EM Sports Holding had paid JIPL's share of the Rajasthan Royals franchisee fee to the cricket board BCCI. The company sought permission to transfer its entire equity to these companies in a cash-less deal.

Besides JIPL, other owners of Rajasthan Royals include Raj Kundra, husband of cine star Shilpa Shetty.