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Tag: Finance

  • Amazon sues financial crime agency in latest twist of Indian battle

    Amazon.com Inc is taking India’s financial crime fighting agency to court, seeking to quash an investigation into one of its 2019 deals, a court filing seen by Reuters shows.India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) has for months been probing Amazon’s $200 million investment in India’s Future Group for suspected violations of foreign investment laws.

    The investment is at the centre of protracted legal battles, as Amazon has used the terms of that deal – and cited contract breaches by Future – to stall the $3.4 billion sale of the Indian company’s retail assets to a rival.

    In an 816-page filing, seen by Reuters, Amazon calls the investigation a “fishing and roving” inquiry, saying the ED had sought privileged legal advice and opinions from Amazon and other information not connected to the Future Group deal.

    Multiple Amazon executives, including its India head, had been summoned by the ED in recent weeks and the investigation had caused “unnecessary harassment,” the U.S. e-commerce giant said in its filing to the Delhi High Court on Dec. 21.

    “The directions by the ED asking for disclosure of legally privileged documents and litigation privilege information is derogatory of the principles” laid out in Indian constitution, Amazon said in the filing, which is not public.

    “The investigation is a fishing and roving exercise.”

    Amazon and the ED, which does not make details of its investigations public, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The case will likely be heard on Thursday.

    The filing is the latest twist in the long-running dispute between Amazon and Future. Though India’s antitrust body suspended their 2019 deal last week, saying Amazon had suppressed information when seeking approvals for it, the ED’s probe is independent of that.

    The dispute centres around three commercial agreements signed between Future and Amazon entities, which a Singapore arbitration panel – also hearing the dispute – has said must be read together when reviewing the transaction.

    Future contends conflating the commercial agreements would effectively mean the deal violated Indian law.

    Amazon’s court filing contained a notice from the ED dated Feb. 19 which sought details of its investment in Future, including copies of agreements, bank account details and other related internal communication.

    It also showed the ED is conducting a far wider probe, and had sought details of big vendors on Amazon’s e-commerce website in India, including sales numbers for those that account for more than 5% of total sales on Amazon.in.

    The notice came after a February Reuters investigation which found Amazon helped a small number of sellers prosper on its Indian platform, giving them discounted fees and using them to bypass foreign investment laws.

    Amazon said at the time it was confident it complied with regulations and that it “does not give preferential treatment to any seller on its marketplace.”

  • RBI rejects Religare Finvest’s proposal to rename itself

    The Reserve Bank of India rejected Religare Finvest Ltd’s proposal to rename itself Care Financial Services and declined to new management status to the existing management – a move that would derail debt restructuring of the finance company, said people aware of the matter.

    As per the RBI’s regulations, lenders cannot restructure loans of borrowers tagged as fraud, unless there is a change in management. Lenders have tagged its parent company Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL) as fraud.

    Religare Finvest itself filed a case of financial irregularities against REL and have also proposed a debt recast plan with REL as its promoter company. “There is a dichotomy here and this may be a reason for the banking regulator to reject the change in management status,” one of the persons quoted above said.

    Religare Finvest is under a corrective action plan (CAP) since January 2018, which restricts it from expanding business, including giving new loans. The existing board is seeking new management status since the old promoters, the Singh brothers, are no longer in control of the existing board. Also, a new management status would encourage its lenders to restructure its debt, the people said.

    Separately, to clean its books Religare Finvest on Wednesday declared Asset Reconstruction Company of India as the winning bidder for its ₹480-500 crore distressed loan auction. Arcil had offered ₹180-190 crore for the SME portfolio, said a third person aware of the deal.

    Religare did not respond to requests for comments.

    Meanwhile, some existing lenders are of the view that recast of the loan is possible only after the regulator removes the company from CAP, the people quoted above said.

    Last year, the insurance regulator permitted Religare Health Insurance to rename it as Care Health Insurance. However, the banking regulator was against a name change of a loss-making finance company, said the first person.

    In March 2020, Religare Finvest itself filed a case alleging financial irregularities against its former management following which a first information report against Religare Enterprises and its promoters, siblings Malvinder and Shivinder Mohan Singh, was filed.

    Subsequently, it submitted a debt recast plan with REL continuing to be its promoter company, according to the annual report of REL for FY21. “A proposed debt recast with the same management as a promoter that is tagged as fraud is not acceptable to RBI,” said one of the lenders aware of the matter.

    In March 2020, RBI rejected TCG Advisory’s proposal to acquire a stake in Religare Finvest and its housing finance subsidiary on grounds that the acquirer is not fit and proper.

    Subsequently, it submitted a debt recast plan with FEL continuing to be its promoter company, according to the annual report of REL for FY21. “A proposed debt recast with the same management as a promoter that is tagged as fraud is not acceptable to RBI,” said one of the lenders aware of the matter.

    Religare Finvest, which focuses on funding small and medium enterprises (SME), has ₹2,787 crore outstanding rated loans. State Bank of India has the highest exposure of ₹500 crore followed by Canara Bank at ₹485 crore