INDIA’S financial crime fighting agency has fined the BBC £314,510 for alleged foreign exchange violations in the country, three government sources told Reuters.
The agency, India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), opened an investigation into the BBC in April 2023 under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, two months after tax authorities searched the broadcaster’s offices in Delhi and Mumbai.
The ED conducts investigations into suspected contraventions of India’s Foreign Exchange Management Act and can “adjudicate and impose penalties” on those found guilty, according to its website.
The BBC, which launched a new company for Indian language services in December 2023, was issued a show-cause notice earlier that year for failing to reduce foreign ownership in the firm to the permitted limit of 26 per cent, the sources said.
As a result, the broadcaster has been fined £314,510, along with a fine for every day since October 15, 2021 for violations.
Additionally, three directors of the company have each been fined £104,836 for their roles in overseeing operations during the period of contravention, the sources added.
The BBC said it had not received a so-called adjudication order yet. “We will carefully review any order when it is received and consider next steps as appropriate,” the BBC said in a statement.
The tax raids in February 2023 followed the release of a BBC documentary about India’s prime minister Narendra Modi’s leadership of the state of Gujarat during riots in 2002.
The Indian government had in 2023 dismissed the documentary as “propaganda”, blocked its airing and also barred sharing of any clips via social media in the country.
