ED sends notice to Flipkart over forex violations

India’s financial-crime agency has asked Walmart’s Flipkart and its founders to explain why they shouldn’t face a penalty of $1.35 billion for alleged violation of foreign investment laws, three sources and an agency official told Reuters. The Enforcement Directorate agency has been investigating e-commerce giants Flipkart and Amazon.com Inc for years for allegedly bypassing foreign investment laws that strictly regulate multi-brand retail and restrict such companies to operating a marketplace for sellers. The ED official, who declined to be named, said the case concerned an investigation into allegations that Flipkart attracted foreign investment and a related party, WS Retail, then sold goods to consumers on its shopping website, which was prohibited under law. A so-called “show cause notice” was issued in early July by the agency’s office in the southern city of Chennai to Flipkart, its founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal as well as current investor Tiger Global, to explain why they should not face a fine of 100 billion rupees ($1.35 billion) for the lapses, said the agency.