The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has imposed a penalty of 3.44 crore on BBC World Service India for violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). In addition, the company faces a daily fine of 5,000 from October 15, 2021, until compliance is achieved. The ED launched its investigation into BBC in April 2023, two months after income tax officials conducted searches at its offices in Delhi and Mumbai. The broadcaster was served a show-cause notice for failing to reduce foreign ownership within the permissible 26% limit after it launched a new company for Indian language services in December 2023.
Three directors of the company—Giles Antony Hunt, Indu Shekhar Singha, and Paul Micheal Gibbons—have each been fined 1.14 crore for their roles in managing operations during the period in question. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) previously stated that the BBC group’s income and profits were not proportional to the scale of their operations in India and that certain remittances by foreign entities had not been taxed. The financial scrutiny of the broadcaster came amid broader concerns regarding its compliance with Indian tax regulations.
The investigation and penalties followed the release of a BBC documentary examining Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. The Indian government dismissed the documentary as “propaganda” and blocked its airing on social media platforms. The controversy over the documentary coincided with increased scrutiny of the BBC’s financial and operational practices in India.
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