New Delhi: Former Xiaomi India head Manu Kumar Jain was on Tuesday summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as the agency probes whether the handset maker's business practices are conformed with Indian foreign exchange laws, according to a report by news agency Reuters. The handset maker is under the scanner again months after taxmen had raided the premises of the company based on "intelligence inputs" of tax evasion.
Xiaomi's former India MD and current global VP was currently in India when he was summoned. The ED has been probing Xiaomi since at least February, and in recent weeks asked Jain, to appear before its officers, the Reuters report added quoting sources. The report also mentioned that Xiaomi's former India MD was recently summoned by the ED to appear before its officers.
Asked about the probe, a Xiaomi spokesperson said: "Xiaomi is a law-abiding and responsible company. We give paramount importance to the laws of the land. We are fully compliant with all the regulations and are confident of the same. We are cooperating with authorities with their ongoing investigation to ensure they have all the requisite information."
This development indicates the widening scrutiny of the Chinese smartphone maker, as its India office was raided in December last year in a separate investigation too.
Earlier in December last year, over 20 offices in the National Capital Region (NCR), Karnataka Mumbai, Rajkot of handset makers Oppo and Xiaomi were raided by the income tax department, a report in The Economic Times had said. Taxmen had also searched the offices of OnePlus, another Chinese handset maker that has been merged with sister brand Oppo, but functions as a separate firm.
The income tax raids were based on “actionable intelligence inputs” on “several violations” by the Chinese firms, a senior official was quoted as saying in the ET report.