Parliamentary panel to quiz RBI governor on IPL

Panel members not satisfied with deputy governor’s response.

A parliamentary panel looking into irregularities in the Indian Premier League (IPL) today decided to call Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D Subbarao to depose before it.

The members were not satisfied with the replies given by RBI Deputy Governor Shyamala Gopinath on involvement of banks in the IPL irregularities, especially remittances of foreign exchange, sources said after a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance. The committee, comprising members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, met under the chairmanship of former finance minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha. Gopinath was questioned on the role of RBI and commercial banks, regarding transfer of funds to the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) and IPL franchisees, the owners of the high-profile Twenty-20 cricket teams.

The committee is also believed to have discussed issues relating to violation of the Company Law provisions by the IPL franchisees. According to sources, date of the next meeting will be decided later. The meeting was called to discuss “foreign exchange and remittance-related offences, and connected issues concerning both IPL and BCCI.”

In its meeting on July 14, the panel had sought details from the government on its investigations into the alleged tax evasion by BCCI and IPL franchisees. The alleged evasion of service tax for marketing and brand-building by the IPL franchisees was also discussed in the previous meeting.

Besides Sinha, the meeting was attended by Bhartiya Janata Dal’s Bhartruhari Mahtab, Bhartiya Janata Party’s Nishikant Dubey and S S Ahluwalia, AIADMK’s M Thambidurai, Communist Party of India’s Gurudas Dasgupta and Congress’ Raashid Alvi. Earlier, Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had said his ministry had noticed non-compliance with the Company Law rules by the IPL franchisees.

Different wings of the finance ministry have been probing IPL’s affairs, since a controversy erupted in April. The row and face-offs between former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor and suspended IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi led to the government ordering inquiries by different departments into the affairs of IPL and the teams owned by business houses and film stars.

IPL has 10 franchisees, out of which eight are functional, including the Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Superkings and King’s XI Punjab. Since the commercialisation of cricket, particularly after the launch of IPL series, tax authorities do not consider BCCI as a sports promotion body entitled for exemptions.