Page 2 - Fema

Fema tweaks on the cards to allow FPIs to seamlessly access FDI route

This move comes in response to several requests from foreign investors seeking to simplify the reporting requirements they currently face when exceeding the 10 per cent threshold

SC junks plea challenging order to consider NDTV's application under FEMA

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea by the ED challenging a Bombay High Court order, which directed the RBI to consider the compounding applications filed by NDTV in a case of alleged FEMA violation. A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih said no case for interference was made out. The high court, in its 2018 order, set aside objections raised to the compounding proceedings by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had earlier flagged the alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations and issued showcause notices to NDTV. In November 2015, the ED issued showcause notices to the news organisation for allegedly flouting foreign exchange regulations while availing of overseas and foreign direct investment facilities to the tune of more than Rs 2,000 crore. In March 2016, NDTV filed an application with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for compounding of the contraventions alleged in the showcause notices. However, a year later, the RBI to

Rising speculative bets stoke RBI crackdown on currency derivative

Volumes up 3x post Covid; 2/3rd participation by prop traders

RBI defers implementing rules on exchange-traded forex derivatives to May 3

RBI said the regulatory framework for participation in ETCDs involving the Indian rupee (INR) is guided by the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999

ED files money laundering case against Mahua Moitra, Darshan Hiranandani

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a money laundering case against TMC leader Mahua Moitra and businessman Darshan Hiranandani in connection with an alleged cash-for-queries scam case, official sources said Tuesday. The federal agency filed the enforcement case information report (ECIR), the ED equivalent of a police FIR, against the two, taking cognisance of a CBI complaint, the sources said. The ED case was registered two-three days ago. It has been probing them under the civil sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and has called Moitra and Dubai-based businessman Hiranandani in this case for questioning but they have not disposed till now, citing official engagements. The CBI had last month conducted searches, after filing its FIR, at the premises of Moitra, a former TMC MP from Krishnanagar seat in West Bengal. She has been renominated by the Trinamool Congress led by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to contest in the upcoming general ...

Govt, RBI in talks to ease Fema guidelines for boosting e-commerce exports

Efforts on to ease FEMA norms, says DGFT Sarangi

ED questions Niranajn Hiranandani, his son Darshan in Fema investigation

The Enforcement Directorate has questioned Niranjan Hiranandani, the promoter of prominent Mumbai-based realty company Hiranandani Group, in a foreign exchange violation case, official sources said Monday. Niranajn Hiranandani and his son Darshan Hiranandani were asked to join the investigation by the central agency at its office here as part of a probe being conducted under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Darshan Hiranandani has been living in Dubai for the past several years. About four premises of the group in and around Mumbai were searched by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last month. Apart from some foreign transactions, the agency is stated to be probing into the beneficiaries of a British Virgin Islands-based trust allegedly linked to the Hiranandani Group's promoters. The group has said it will co-operate with the ED in this FEMA investigation. Official sources said this ED probe is not linked to another FEMA investigation being conducted against TMC leader

Delhi HC dismisses TMC leader Moitra's plea alleging media leakage from ED

The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra's plea against the alleged leakage of "confidential" information from the ED to the media in relation to a probe against her under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). "Dismissed," said Justice Subramonium Prasad while pronouncing the verdict. Moitra had sought a direction to restrain the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from "leaking any information, including any confidential, sensitive, unverified/unconfirmed information, to the print/electronic media in relation to the ongoing investigation". She had also sought a direction to restrain several media organisations from "leaking, publishing/broadcasting of any information related to the ongoing investigation/proceedings in relation to the investigation being carried out by Respondent No.1 (ED) ... under which a FEMA summons has been issued to the petitioner". A detailed copy of the court's decision is awaited. The senior counsel appearing in

ED launches preliminary probe into Fema breach in Paytm Bank case

There could be a multi-agency investigation of the company, sources have indicated

ED probing Paytm, its bank unit over currency transactions: Report

The sources did not indicate what specific provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), which covers individual

ED conducting searches at India Cements Ltd offices in Fema probe

The Enforcement Directorate has conducted searches at the offices of leading Chennai-based cement manufacturer-- India Cements Ltd.-- as part of a foreign exchange violation investigation, official sources said on Thursday. Two office premises in Chennai and one in Delhi were covered by the federal probe agency over the last two days, as per provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the sources said. The probe pertains to the affairs of its associate company India Cements Capital Ltd (ICCL) and transfer of funds abroad worth about Rs 550 crore, they said. The role of some alleged dubious agents and directors are under the probe scanner of the ED, they said. An official comment from the company to a PTI query is awaited. Founded in 1946, the company said on its website that "while retaining cement over the years as its mainstay, India Cements has ventured into related fields like shipping, captive power and coal mining.

Govt allows direct listing at IFSC to enable local cos raise global capital

The move will enable startups and other domestic companies to access the global market and raise capital in foreign currency through GIFT IFSC

ED summons harassment, will not appear: CPI(M) leader Thomas Isaac

Senior CPI(M) leader Thomas Isaac on Tuesday said he would not be appearing before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a FEMA case, terming the summons issued to him as "pure harassment". The Foreign Exchange Management Act case is linked to a probe into the alleged violations in the financial dealings of KIIFB during his tenure as the finance minister in the previous LDF government. Isaac told reporters that he had asked the ED to withdraw the summons issued to him last week. The ED had issued a summons for the 71-year-old politician to depose at the agency office in Kochi on January 22, but he did not appear before it. He was earlier asked to appear before it on January 12 but he had not turned up then also. Isaac today said that he was willing to appear before the agency and give an explanation if the ED can point out what law has been violated. "But, I am not going to appear before them so that they can question me and find out if any laws were violated. That amoun

Sebi may allow AIFs to 'exclude' investors from certain investments

Proposal will help address concerns about evergreening of loans

ED searches Surat SEZ-based Sharanam Jewels LLP on Fema violation charge

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it recently searched the premises of a Surat-based LLP firm and entities linked to it for allegedly making "suspicious" outward remittances worth Rs 2,284 crore. The locations of Sharanam Jewels LLP, based in the Surat SEZ (special economic zone), its promoter Avadh Harshad Yagnik, Vansh Marketing, a proprietorship concern of Ashik Patel and others in Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat and Dhubri in Assam were searched under sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the agency said in a statement. The probe was initiated on the basis of "credible" information that the said entities were involved in sending foreign exchange outside India "on a large scale" and that they made "suspicious" outward remittances amounting to Rs 2,284 crore on account of payment towards import settlement of invoices. The limited liability partnership (LLP) firm is into import and export of gems and jewellery and in the last two years, it conducte

FEMA violation: HC upholds reduction in penalty on Rajasthan Royals owners

The Bombay High Court has upheld an order passed by a tribunal reducing the penalty imposed on the owners of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket franchise Rajasthan Royals from Rs 98 crore to Rs 15 crore for alleged financial irregularities. A division bench of Justices K R Shriram and Neela Gokhale in its judgement on Wednesday dismissed an appeal filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging the July 11, 2019 order passed by the tribunal. The high court in its order noted the tribunal arrived at its conclusion based on evidence and analysis of the same. "The findings are far from being perverse. Thus, no question of law arises in the case. We find that in fact no justification has been recorded by the special director (ED) to impose maximum penalty as opposed to the tribunal having considered relevant material has interfered and reduced the penalty," the court said in its order. "We find that the special director has completely failed to apply the doctrine of ...

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RBI imposes penalty on HDFC Bank, Bank of America for violating FEMA norms

RBI fined HDFC Bank, a leading private sector bank, for accepting deposits from non-residents and flouting RBI's directions under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme of FEMA, 1999

ED seizes over Rs 65 cr of Venkateshwara Hatcheries in FEMA probe

Nine properties worth more than Rs 65 crore of prominent hatchery company-- Venkateshwara Hatcheries Pvt Ltd-- have been seized under the foreign exchange law for allegedly making illegal foreign remittances to purchase a 90-acre house in the UK, the Enforcement Directorate said on Monday. The seized assets are located in Maharashtra and Karnataka and the ED case, being probed under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), pertains to these remittances made by the company from 2011 to its wholly-owned subsidiary named Venky's Overseas Limited (VOL), UK. The total value of these properties is Rs 65.53 crore, according to the ED. Venkateshwara Hatcheries Pvt Ltd (VHPL), the agency said in a statement, had declared the business of VOL to the RBI as agriculture and mining (rearing of ducks, hens etc). After the incorporation of the VOL, the VHPL remitted "huge funds" in the guise of equity infusion. "However, no such business activity was ever initiated by VOL eve

3,110 money laundering, 12K FEMA cases registered by ED in last 3 yrs: Govt

The Enforcement Directorate has registered 3,110 cases under the anti-money laundering law and over 12,000 complaints to probe alleged foreign exchange violations over the last three years, the government informed Parliament on Monday. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told Lok Sabha in a written reply that the ED has recorded cases on the basis of a "risk-based robust mechanism" under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA). The number of cases recorded under the PMLA in 2020-21 was 981, during 2021-22, it rose to 1,180 and there were 949 cases during 2022-23, he said in the reply. The total money laundering cases registered in these three years stand at 3,110. Similarly, the federal agency booked 2,747 cases under the FEMA during 2020-21; 5,313 during 2021-22; and 4,173 cases in 2022-23. So a total of 12,233 FEMA cases were registered by the ED in the last three years. He also gave t