No foreign remittances licence, no Fema violation: Paytm to ED
Paytm Payments Bank has told the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that it does not possess the licence required for outward foreign remittances and hence the question of it violating Fema does not arise, people in the know told ET. The federal agency last week wrote to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to verify this claim, they said.
The 'AD-II' licence issued by the RBI is mandatory for companies to make foreign remittances.
ED is probing alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) by entities using Paytm Payments Bank.
It recently received the «additional» data sought by it from the central bank pertaining to entities which, according to the RBI, violated Fema using Paytm Payments bank.
However, the federal agency, after perusing data it received from the RBI, has «prima facie» not found any Fema violation by Paytm Payments Bank, the sources said.
In a related development, the agency has reached out to the central bank, seeking details of all those entities — companies and individuals — who may have violated Fema norms on other mobile payment platforms besides Paytm Payment Bank, people cited above said.
ET was the first to report on February 15 that ED has quizzed Paytm Payments Bank officials earlier this month in connection with its probe into alleged Fema violations by entities using the bank.
Executives had provided information and documents sought by the agency. ED had asked the company to furnish more details.
The company has taken the stance that AD-II licence was never issued by
