ED registers FEMA case against BBC India for irregularities in foreign funding

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday registered a case against the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) India under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) for irregularities in foreign funding.

The federal probe agency has also called for documents and the recording of statements of some company executives under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), they said.

The probe is essentially looking at purported foreign direct investment (FDI) violations by the company, they said.

The development comes in the backdrop of the Income-Tax (IT) department surveying BBC office premises in Delhi and Mumbai in February.

Following a survey by the Income Tax Department, the ED has sent summons to BBC, calling for an inquiry into the matter. Reports suggest that the administrative and editorial departments of BBC have been asked to appear before the ED.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the administrative body for the I-T department, had then said the income and profits shown by various BBC group entities were ''not commensurate'' with the scale of their operations in India and tax has not been paid on certain remittances by its foreign entities.