Fino Payments Bank CEO Arrested: FM Sitharaman to 'check' GST evasion case

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Saturday she would “check” into the arrest of CEO and managing director of Fino Payment Bank Rishi Gupta in GST evasion case after businesses questioned on social media whether authorities had overreached in arresting a bank chief executive under the country’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) laws.

Sitharaman replied on X to a post late Saturday saying: “Thanks for sharing this. Will check.”

The comments came after the managing director and chief executive of Fino Payments Bank, Rishi Gupta, was arrested on Friday by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) in Hyderabad under provisions of the Central and State GST Acts, the bank said in a regulatory filing.


Also Read: Fino Bank CEO Rishi Gupta arrested under GST acts

Banks in its statement said the probe relates to transactions involving one of the bank’s business partners and is not tied to the bank’s own GST compliance. The bank said none of its other officials were implicated and that it was cooperating with investigators. Chief Financial Officer Ketan Merchant was named interim head to oversee operations.

Social media post raised questions about the scope of powers under the GST regime and asked how a regulated bank CEO could be arrested over issues connected to a business partner, urging the finance ministry to intervene.