RiddiSiddhi faces Rs.100 crore penalty

RiddiSiddhi Bullions Limited (RSBL), a leading Indian company delving in bullion, specializing in bars and coins of gold, silver and platinum, is fined with a Rs.100 crore penalty and has its nominated agency certificate (NAC) cancelled by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), as it failed to meet RBI norms, reports say.

RSBL received the NAC, a necessary document required to directly import precious metals, in April 2013 for bullion import. It had, FY14, imported 550 kg gold, which according to the RBI circular was to be totally exported but RSBL exported only 350 kg and supplied the remaining 200 kg to the domestic market, causing violation of NAC and RBI norms, reports add.

The DGFT had issued a show-cause notice in October 2014, stating declining RSBL’s request for renewal of NAC for FY15, on grounds of not meeting with the requirements. RSBL has declined having violated any norms, reports say.