ED slaps ₹184 crore FEMA penalty notice against NewsClick, founder Prabir Purkayastha

THe Enforcement board of directors (ED) on mon imposed a penalty of ₹184 crore on intelligence portal NewsClick and its beginner Prabir Purkayastha below the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) for alleged violations of foreign funding regulations, the agency said.Of the ₹184 crore, a ₹120 crore penalty was slapped on NewsClick, while Purkayastha was penalised ₹64 crore.NewsClick and its founder are under investigation by multiple agencies, including the ED, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Delhi Police and the Income Tax (IT) department, for violations ranging from alleged anti-national activities to money laundering and violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).Also read: ED probe against senior IAS’s ‘aide’ to continue despite HC quashing FIRDelhi Police arrested Purkayastha in October 2023. He is currently out on bail.As part of its probe against NewsClick, the ED issued a summons to Neville Roy Singham, an American billionaire currently based in Shanghai, but never heard back from him, according to officials who requested anonymity.The ED said in a statement on Monday that the adjudicating authority under FEMA “has passed an order in an adjudication proceeding in the case of M/s PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd relating to violations of foreign exchange law involving foreign direct investment and foreign inward remittances.”Also read:₹34K-cr: ED"> Cyber fraud proceeds at ₹34K-cr: EDThe agency said that “after detailed examination of records, evidence, and submissions of the noticees, the adjudicating authority held that Foreign direct investment (FDI) amounting to approximately ₹9.59 crore was received during FY 2018-19 by misrepresenting the nature of business activity in statutory filings, thereby bypassing prescribed sectoral conditions and entry route requirements under FEMA”.Track live updates of AI Summit 2026 inDelhi hereSimilarly, the ED statement said, “foreign inward remittances aggregating to ₹82.63 crore, purportedly received between FY 2018-19 to 2023-24 towards export of services, were found to be in contravention of FEMA provisions due to misclassification of exports and failure to comply with mandatory reporting requirements, including submission of SOFTEX forms”.“The transactions were deliberately structured in a manner that defeated the objectives of the foreign exchange regulatory framework. Prabir Purkayashta, the director of the company, was found to be in charge of and responsible for the conduct of business at the relevant time and was therefore held liable under Section 42 of FEMA,” the ED statement added.The agency said “the contraventions were substantial, deliberate, and systemic in nature, involving large-scale foreign exchange transactions and breach of statutory declarations furnished to regulatory authorities”.Therefore, in exercise of powers under Section 13(1) of FEMA, penalties of ₹120 crore on PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt. Ltd and ₹64 crore on Prabir Purkayastha have been imposed, it added.HT has reached out to NewsClick and Purkayastha’s legal team for comment.FEMA, 1999, is a civil law enacted to consolidate and amend laws relating to facilitating external trade and payments and to promote the orderly development and maintenance of the foreign exchange market in India.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the sole regulator of foreign exchange in India, while the ED is entrusted with implementing the law. The central agency initiates investigations and issues Show Cause Notices (SCNs) in cases where alleged contraventions of provisions under FEMA are noticed. These SCNs, upon adjudication, result in the imposition of penalties as well as confiscation of currency or property involved.While registering a case under anti-terror laws, the Delhi Police said in 2023 that NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha was part of a conspiracy to disrupt India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, cause disaffection and threaten the country’s unity and integrity.NewsClick refuted the charges against it, saying it never published any news or information at the behest of any Chinese entity or authority. It denied taking any directions from Singham.“All funding received by NewsClick has been through the appropriate banking channels and has been reported to the relevant authorities as required by law, as substantiated by the Reserve Bank of India in proceedings before the high court of Delhi,” the portal said in a statement in 2023.