NEW DELHI: Faced with a pile of cases under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) and eager to avoid prolonged legal battles, the Enforcement Directorate is settling for large-scale compounding of offences and termination of adjudication proceedings after obtaining the Reserve Bank of India’s approval.In the last 15 months, more than 150 Fema cases have been terminated by the RBI on the basis of “no-objection certificates” (NOC) issued by the ED.Many of these cases had been pending for years. One terminated last month involved Apollo Hospitals and its directors over alleged Fema violations of around Rs 850 crore. The hospital paid over Rs 17 crore and its directors Rs 18 lakh each, following which the RBI terminated the proceedings.Since Jan, the RBI has compounded 45 such cases based on ED NoCs. Flipkart subsidiary Myntra paid Rs 2.8 lakh to settle a long-pending case related to delay in filing an annual performance report on transactions exceeding Rs 45 crore. Kakinada Seaports Ltd paid Rs 21.7 lakh, while Genpact India Pvt Ltd paid Rs 4.7 lakh to close Fema proceedings.In such cases, the accused applies to the RBI for compounding. Proceedings are terminated after an ED NOC and payment of the agreed penalty.“By shifting from a purely punitive policing model to a facilitative one, the ED significantly enhances the ease of doing business in India,” ED director Rahul Navin said.The ED has designated a special director (adjudication) as nodal officer for RBI NOCs and centralised all Fema and Fera adjudication cases at its headquarters for faster disposal.
