ED Attaches Assets Of Fintech Firms, NBFCs Backed By Chinese Funds Under PMLA

ED found that they entered into the business of providing instant loans illegally with certain domestic non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).

Indian 500 Rupees banknote (Source: File photo/Getty)

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday claimed it had attached Rs 86.65 crore lying in various bank accounts and payment gateway accounts pertaining to NBFCs under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED on Wednesday said that these companies were acting on the behest of some Chinese and Hong Kong people. In its probe into the money laundering case, the ED found that they entered into the business of providing instant loans illegally with certain domestic non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).

"It was revealed that various fintech companies backed by Chinese funds have made agreements with these NBFCs for providing instant personal loans of terms ranging from seven to 30 days. The fintech companies brought the funds to be lent to the public and signed MoUs with the defunct NBFCs for their lending licence.

"Since the fintech companies were unlikely to get a fresh NBFC licence from the RBI, they devised the MoU route with defunct NBFCs as a via media to do large scale lending activities. It was projected that the NBFCs had hired the fintech companies for customer discovery, but in reality the fintech companies were piggybacking on the licence of the NBFCs and indulging in large-scale lending business," sais an ED official.

He said the entire decisions with respect to fixation of interest rate, processing fee, platform fee etc. were taken by the fintech organisations which were working on directions from people situated in China and Hong Kong.

The NBFC companies, specifically Kudos, Acemoney, Rhino and Pioneer, went into MoUs with foreign-backed fintech companies to complete online lending business in India.

An amount of Rs 940,46,39,498 has been viewed as continuous wrongdoing as the equivalent was gained by way of predatory lending activities infringing upon RBI rules. The ED has distinguished bank balances of Rs 86.65 crore in 155 bank accounts and the same has been attached under the provisions of PMLA to save the proceeds of crime. Further fund trail investigation is going on.

Earlier, a PAO was issued against Kudos Finance and Investments Private Limited and its fintech partners for a worth of Rs 72.32 crore.

(WIth PTI inputs)