Two years after registering a case against British Broadcasting Company (BBC) India under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) for alleged foreign exchange violations, the Enforcement Directorate Friday issued an adjudication order, levying a penalty of Rs 3.44 crore on the broadcaster. The agency has also imposed a fine of Rs 1.14 crore each on three BBC directors. The ED lodged the case following Income-Tax Department surveys at the BBC premises in New Delhi and Mumbai in February 2023 for alleged “non-compliance” with transfer pricing rules and diversion of profits. A BBC spokesperson said, “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.” “We will carefully review any order when it is received and consider next steps as appropriate,” the spokesperson said. On the penalties imposed by the ED, an official said, “Apart from levying a penalty of Rs 3,44,48,850 on BBC WS India, a fine of Rs 5,000 for each day has been imposed from October 15, 2021 till the date of compliance. Also, three directors - Giles Antony Hunt, Indu Shekhar Sinha and Paul Michael Gibbons - have each been fined Rs 1,14,82,950 for their roles in overseeing company operations during the period of contravention.” “The adjudication proceedings were initiated after a showcause notice was issued on August 4, 2023 to BBC WS India, its three directors, and the finance head, for the contraventions,” the official said. On the alleged violations, the official said, “On September 18, 2019, DPIIT issued a press note, stipulating a 26 per cent FDI cap for digital media under the government approval route. However, BBC WS India, which is a 100 per cent FDI company engaged in uploading/streaming news and current affairs through digital media, did not reduce their FDI to 26 per cent, and kept it at 100 per cent in gross violation of regulations issued by the government.” The tax department’s action came after the British broadcaster on January 17, 2023, released a documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots titled “India: The Modi Question”. On January 20, the Centre ordered YouTube and Twitter to take down links sharing the documentary, with officials saying it was found to be “undermining the sovereignty and integrity of India”. After three days of surveys in February 2023, the I-T Department had said that it had found “several discrepancies and inconsistencies with regard to transfer pricing documentation”. It also said the income and profits shown by various BBC group entities are “not commensurate with the scale of operations” in India.
