ED registers FEMA case against BBC India for alleged foreign exchange violation

India's Enforcement Directorate has registered a case against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)'s India arm for allegedly violating foreign exchange norms.

The government agency has booked the British organisation under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), calling for documents and the recording of statements of some company executives. This move follows surveys of the BBC's India offices earlier this year, in February, when India's tax authorities launched an investigation into alleged tax evasion by the broadcaster.

BBC India is not the only organisation to be pulled up for foreign investment irregularities, with tax authorities issuing show cause notices to several foreign companies questioning the source and valuation of their investment in the country.

The British broadcaster is also at loggerheads with the ruling BJP, with the national party's spokesperson, Gaurav Bhatia, calling the BBC "the most corrupt organisation." His comments came just a few weeks after the media house aired a two-part documentary titled 'The Modi Question'

India's government had, in January, ordered the blocking of the documentary, calling it 'venomous reporting.'