New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has fined the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) India and three of its directors Rs 3.44 crore over alleged foreign exchange violations. It has also imposed a fine of Rs 1.14 crore each on three of its directors for their role in overseeing operations during this period.
In April 2023, the ED had opened an investigation into the BBC under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), two months after Income Tax authorities registered a case and searched the broadcaster’s Mumbai and Delhi offices for alleged “non-compliance” with transfer pricing rules and diversion of profits.
“The BBC is committed to operating within the rules of all countries we are based in, including India. At this stage, neither BBC World Service India nor its directors have received any Adjudication Order from the Enforcement Directorate,” a BBC spokesperson was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
“We will carefully review any order when it is received and consider next steps as appropriate,” they said in a statement.
The BJP-led Union government has imposed a cap of 26% foreign direct investment (FDI) for digital news outfits operating in India. Meanwhile, 99.99% of BBC World Service India’s shares were owned by its UK-based public broadcaster.
Under the new FDI rules, companies exceeding the 26% FDI limit were required to reduce their foreign investment to comply with this regulation by October 2021. According to the government, BBC failed to do this and kept it at 100%, as per The Tribune.
The ED had already levied a daily penalty of Rs 5,000 on BBC India, applicable from October 15, 2021, until compliance is achieved.
The tax raids on BBC were controversially timed soon after it aired a documentary on January 17, 2023, titled ‘India: The Modi Question’, on Narendra Modi’s alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Three days later, on January 20, the Union government ordered YouTube and Twitter to take down links sharing the documentary as it was found to be “undermining the sovereignty and integrity of India”.
After constantly being under the radar of Indian officials for a year, in April 2024, the broadcaster decided to hand over its newsroom publishing license in India to a private limited company called Collective Newsroom, which has been set up by four former employees.
The move was a first for the public service broadcaster’s global operations anywhere in the world.
As of now, Collective Newsroom has absorbed much of BBC India’s staff and has been producing the India content for the BBC’s digital services in English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu.
