New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday that she would look into the issue of the arrest of Fino Payments Bank’s Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer Rishi Gupta after IT industry leader and former Infosys Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mohandas Pai flagged GST’s overreach and requested the Finance Minister’s intervention in a social media post.
Gupta was arrested on Friday under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act and the State Goods and Services Tax Act.
Following the action, the bank appointed CFO Ketan Merchant as head of the organisation to carry forward and oversee the day-to-day operations.
According to sources, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) is likely to evaluate the matter and the Finance Ministry is expected to call for a report after the Finance Minister Sitharaman took note of the issue.
In a statement on Saturday, Merchant said that the issue is with regard to a GST investigation pertaining to our business partners’, who have relationship with other banks, including Fino Payments Banks Limited, and the Bank and its MD and CEO Rishi Gupta have nothing to do with the actions of the programme managers.
Sharing that statement, Pai tagged Finance Minister sitharaman and said, “Nirmala Sitharaman ji, please see this. How can a CEO of a regulated bank be arrested for an issue with a business partner? Is this not overreach?”
“The Finance Ministry has given vast powers for GST. What is the safeguard for citizens against misuse? Please intervene,” Pai added.
Responding to Pai’s social media post, the Finance Minister replied: “Thanks for sharing this. Will check.”
CFO Ketan Merchant also said that the Fino Payments Bank wishes to inform that we have a strong corporate governance, compliance framework and robust processes in place.
“As a regulated entity, we are compliant with all the laws, including GST,” the CFO said in a statement.
He added that they have full faith in the country’s judiciary and will continue to extend full cooperation and assistance to the authorities in the ongoing process.
“We would like to further assure our customers, investors and all our stakeholders that our business operations will continue uninterrupted and there will be no impact on our services. We stand committed to deliver on our customer centricity.”
