Eighteen multi-national companies including Ericsson, Samsung, Sony, Nokia, Mitsubishi, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and Deutsche Bank have been slapped show cause notices for alleged violation of Foreign Exchange Regulations involving over Rs 170 crore (Rs 1.70 billion).
Other MNCs who were also issued show cause notices for alleged Fera violations are Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airlines, Hyundai Motor, Daewoo Motors, Marubeni, Motorola, LG Electronics, Sanwa Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Sakura Bank and Fuji Bank, official sources said on Friday.
"After investigation under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 18 MNCs were found to have paid salaries and perks abroad to their employees working in India, without obtaining the necessary permission of Reserve Bank," they said.
"Action under the provisions of Fera has been taken by the Directorate of Enforcement," official sources said, adding that adjudication proceedings have also been initiated.
According to the official estimates, the show cause notice was issued to Ericsson for violation of Fera involving Rs 35.46 crore (Rs 254.6 million), while the amount was over Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) for Samsung, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Mitsubishi Corporation.
In the case of Nokia, Marubeni and Deutsche Bank it was around Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) while that for Hyundai Motors was Rs 8 crore (Rs 80 million), Motorola (Rs 5.58 crore or Rs 55.8 million), Sanwa Bank (Rs 2.6 crore or Rs 26 million), All Nippon Airlines (Rs 1.47 crore or Rs 14.7 million), Daewoo Motors (Rs 2.66 crore or Rs 26.6 million) and Fuji Bank (Rs 2.8 crore or Rs 28 million).
The amount involved in the case of Sony was around 57.50 crore (575 million) Japanese yen, while it was over 4.09 crore (40.9 million) yen for Sakura Bank.
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