11 MNCs face Rs 40-cr fine for Fera violation

NEW DELHI: Nokia, Ericsson, Sony, and Bank of Tokyo are among the 11 multinational companies which have been found ‘guilty’ of foreign exchange regulation violation to the tune of Rs 40 crore.

The Appellate Tribunal for Foreign Exchange on Friday has upheld an Enforcement Directorate (ED) order, which had found that these companies had violated provisions of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.

According to ED sources, these companies were found to be paying salaries and other perks to some of their employees working in their subsidiaries in India in foreign exchange, abroad for the years ‘01 and ‘02. This is not permissible under the extant FERA regulations.

When contacted by ET, some of the affected companies said, they would respond only when they received the notices.
The ED had then issued them notices after these violations were noticed. These companies went in for appeal to the appellate body. The appellate body today upheld the ED order.