The Union Finance Ministry on Friday announced key amendments to foreign exchange (forex) regulations, including mandating government approvals for all investments originating from countries that share land borders with India. The latest amendments also seek to simplify cross-border share swaps and streamline key definitions, such as "control". The updated regulations have aligned the treatment of downstream investments made by overseas citizen of India (OCI)-owned entities with those owned by non-resident Indians (NRIs) on a non-repatriation basis.
Traders' body CAIT on Wednesday accused e-commerce major Amazon of indulging in serious contraventions of FDI policy and Foreign Exchange Management Act. The body also blamed the online firm for not seeking the government's approval for conducting multi-brand retail activities in India.
The investigation under FEMA was taken up by ED based on a reference received from RBI to investigate advance remittances received by certain entities for the purchase of the shares of Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank through escrow mechanism maintained with Standard Chartered Bank, Mumbai.
Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha in December for "unethical conduct", has been renominated by her party from West Bengal's Krishnanagar seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The senior counsel appearing for the former MP claimed she was being "hounded", and information on issuance of summons to her by the agency was published by the media even before she received it.
Market watchers believe that the change in guidelines fly in the face of some of the recent initiatives taken by the government, such as easing norms for foreign portfolio investors.
The 71-year-old politician has been asked to depose at the agency office in Kochi on January 12, they said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has issued show-cause notices to the Indian arm of Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Xiaomi, its chief financial officer and director Sameer B Rao, former managing director Manu Kumar Jain and three foreign banks for alleged violations of the foreign exchange law to the tune of more than Rs 5,551 crore.
The Enforcement Directorate has upgraded its Look out Circular (LC) issued against Byju's founder and CEO Byju Raveendran in connection with a FEMA probe, seeking to stop him for going abroad. The earlier such alert meant that immigration authorities had to just intimate the agency about his movements through various ports. Official sources said that the over an year old LC was revised sometime back in light of investors' concerns and ongoing adjudication of a FEMA contravention case against Raveendran and some others.
Edtech firm Think and Learn, which owns Byju's brand, has not paid the July salary to employees as the company was unable to access its accounts due to a temporary stay granted by the Supreme Court on the NCLAT's decision, a top official said on Tuesday. On August 2, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) approved the Rs 158.9 crore dues settlement with BCCI and set aside insolvency proceedings against Byju's.
Vikram Lamba was carrying 13000 pounds and electronic and luxury items worth lakhs.
The federal agency issued a summons to Vaibhav Gehlot (43) last week, asking him to appear before the investigating officer of the case at its headquarters on A P J Abdul Kalam Road here under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a money laundering case against Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra and businessman Darshan Hiranandani in connection with an alleged cash-for-queries scam case, official sources said Tuesday.
The sluggish legal system in India makes it extremely difficult for law-enforcing agencies in the ministry of finance to punish violations of foreign exchange laws. Unfortunately, it is not just FEMA. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act too has significant infirmities, say Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Pranati Mehra.
The 49-year-old Trinamool Congress leader was called for questioning twice earlier by the central agency, but she did not depose citing official work and sought deferment of the notice.
The RBI also looked into the effectiveness of systems and processes for implementation of KYC norms
This concession will be available only to those who had not received any intimation.
The government on Thursday said the Enforcement Directorate is probing alleged violation of FDI regulations by cash and carry chain Walmart.
The Directorate of Enforcement is investigating Ringing Bells, the company which has launched smartphone for Rs 251, for alleged contravention of FEMA.
A recent public interest suit in the Supreme Court over foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail may have thrown the industry into a tizzy, but lawyers, constitutional experts and government officials indicate the multi-brand retail FDI policy is unlikely to get derailed over Fema.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday issued summonses to two Trinamool Congress leaders, including MP and popular Bengali actor Dev, for questioning in connection with its probes into money laundering cases, an official said.
The trouble for Ashok Lavasa's family began a few months back when his wife, Novel Singhal Lavasa, came under the scanner of the income tax department on charges of alleged tax evasion.
Under fire over allegations of foreign exchange violations in IPL, BCCI's top officials o Wednesday blamed sacked Commissioner Lalit Modi for "mistakes" as they told a Parliamentary panel that they had given approvals at his behest in "good faith".
Ramesh Patel, 51, and Chirag Patel, 26, of Union City, Georgia, were arraigned Monday. The defendants were earlier indicted by a federal grand jury on June 19, a media report said.
According to the data available on the Reserve Bank of India's website, net workers' remittances in April-June 2018 were $11.5 billion
The actor has been asked to be present before the adjudicating authority of the case here on August 23, they said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is proposing a penalty on German sportswear giant Adidas' subsidiary Reebok India for alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema).
The FEMA notification dealing with foreign direct investment in retail has to be passed by only one House of Parliament, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath has claimed belying the Opposition stand that the decision cannot be implemented if it falls in Rajya Sabha, where UPA lacks majority.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday issued show causes notices for alleged foreign exchange violations of Rs 3,805 crore (Rs 38.05 billion) to telecom firms and other entities as part of its investigation into the 2G spectrum allocation case.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday seized three offices in a prime location in Mumbai, valued more than Rs 41 crore, as part of a foreign exchange violation probe against a businessman whose name figured in the Panama Papers.
Searches conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the anti-money laundering law rose by 86 times while arrests and attachment of assets jumped by around 25 times in the 10 years since 2014 compared to the preceding nine-year period, according to official data.
The government has sought to put an end to the ambiguities in the implementation of Press Notes 2 and 4, which significantly relaxed foreign direct investment (FDI) guidelines, with the Commerce Ministry requesting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to make changes in the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to operationalise the guidelines. The direction from the government follows a number of references and queries from investors.
ED failed to obtain evidence with regard to financial links about the purchase of an island in Scotland.
The Reserve Bank of India has said Indian companies merging with overseas firms will continue to be treated as entities resident in the country under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). There is no provision for such a merger under the current Companies Act. But a Bill to amend the Act tabled in the Budget session of Parliament proposes to allow Indian companies to merge with overseas companies, under section 205, a move that could introduce greater flexibility in
About 281 cases have been taken up for investigation by the Directorate of Enforcement regarding suspected violations of foreign direct investment (FDI) norms all over the country during April 2019 to March this year, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Necessary action as per provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) has been taken, which includes issuance of show cause notices, adjudication and imposition of penalty, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. In these cases, following the due process of adjudication, penalties of more than Rs 2,600 crore have been imposed under the FEMA, he said, adding the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has done compounding of contraventions of FDI related FEMA provisions in total of 1,421 cases across the country during the last three years.
Mahua asserted that despite all efforts by the Bharatiya Janata Party to "sound the death knell" for constitutional democracy, India is too great a country to be destroyed by the fascists.
The Reserve Bank has notified that all transfer of stake or interest in an oil and gas field to non-residents will be treated as FDI and will have to be reported under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The data said the ED filed a total of 176 Enforcement Case Information Reports (ECIRs), equivalent to a police FIR, against existing and ex MPs, MLAs and MLCs which comes to 2.98 percentage of the total 5,906 such complaints filed since the law came into being.