forex law violation: ED seizes Rs 131 cr funds of Chinese-owned NBFC for forex law violation

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has seized over Rs 131-crore funds of a Chinese national-owned NBFC for alleged violation of foreign exchange law. The non-banking financial company (NBFC) is PC Financial Services Pvt Ltd and it was in the business of providing instant personal micro loans through its mobile application ‘Cashbean’ for suspicious foreign outward remittances.

This case came under the ED radar during a separate money laundering probe against a number of NBFCs and FinTech companies which are linked to instant personal loans providing mobile apps.

These loans were being dished out with a “high rate of interest and recovered using personal data of the customer illegally and threatening and abusing them through call centers”.

“PCFS is a wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) of Oplay Digital Services, SA de CV, Mexico, which is in turn a WOS of Tenspot Pesa Limited, Hong Kong which is owned by Cayman Islands based Opera Limited and Wisdom Connection I Holding Inc which are ultimately beneficially owned by Chinese National Zhou Yahui,” the ED said in a statement.