Mumbai: The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has imposed a penalty of Rs 100 crore on Riddhi Siddhi Bullion and also cancelled its nominated agency certificate (NAC) for violation of RBI norms.
NAC is the mandatory document needed for direct import of precious metals.
"The NAC is void and therefore a penalty of Rs 100 crore has been imposed on RSBL," says the order issued today by Kavita Gupta, Additional Director General of Foreign Trade, Mumbai.
When contacted, RSBL chairman Prithviraj Kothari said the company has not received any such order.
The DGFT had issued a showcause notice to the bullion trader last October.
According to the order, RSBL had obtained NAC in April 2013 for direct import of bullion.
In FY14, RSBL had imported 550 kg gold and as per the RBI circular, this entire quantity should have been exported back, however, it had shipped back only 350 kg while remaining 200 kg were supplied to the domestic market, thus violating NAC norms as well as the RBI circular.
The showcause notice had stated that RSBL's request for renewal of NAC for FY15 could not be considered since they did not comply with the conditions.
RSBL, in its reply to the notice, had said that they did not breach any conditions.
Later, Riddhi Siddhi Bullion in a statement said: "The Bombay High Court in their order on November 10, 2014 had instructed the government not to act on its notice to Riddhi Siddhi Bullion for four weeks from the date of issuing the notice."
The company had moved the court after DGFT sent show-cause notice last October when it had cancelled the company's nominated agency certificate for violating RBI norms.