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Biosense Technologies Private Limited

Reserve Bank Of India28 February 2020

Ratio decidendi

The rule this decision rests on

The compounding authority holds that, where a person admits contraventions of the reporting obligations under Para 9(1)(A) and Para 9(1)(B) of FEMA 20 (delay in reporting receipt of foreign inward remittance for subscription to shares, and delay in filing Form FC-GPR after issue of shares to non-residents), those contraventions may be compounded under the Foreign Exchange (Compounding Proceedings) Rules, 2000 on payment of a compounding amount fixed in the exercise of the power under section 15(1) of FEMA, having regard to the relevant facts and circumstances, notwithstanding that the statutory penalty under section 13 may extend to thrice the sum involved. The compounding order is conditional: its effect is confined to the admitted contraventions of Para 9(1)(A) and Para 9(1)(B) of FEMA 20, it is without prejudice to any other authority proceeding against the company for other contraventions, and it rests on the veracity of the applicant's declarations that no enquiry, investigation or adjudication was pending and no appeal under section 17 or 19 had been filed, failing which it may be set aside.

Written by Miss Lucy from the judgment below, not taken from a headnote.

Judgment

As delivered

Reserve Bank of IndiaForeign Exchange DepartmentMumbai Regional OfficeMain Building, 3rd floorShahid Bhagat Singh Marg, FortMumbai 400 001CA No. MUM 994/2019

In the matter of M/s Biosense Technologies Private Limited. Plot No. A/233, Road No. 21Y, Wagle Estate, Thane West - 400604 (Applicant) In exercise of the powers conferred under section 15(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and the Regulations/Rules/Notifications/Orders made thereunder, I pass the following

Order 1 The applicant has filed the compounding application dated November 01, 2019, received at the Reserve Bank on November 05, 2019, for compounding of contravention/s of the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (the FEMA) and the regulations issued thereunder. The contravention/s sought to be compounded are in respect of the following Regulations/ paras under Schedule 1 to Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of Security by a Person Resident outside India) Regulations 2000, notified vide Notification No. FEMA 20/2000-RB dated May 3, 2000 as amended from time to time (hereinafter referred to as FEMA 20) and Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of Security by a Person Resident outside India) Regulations 2017, notified vide Notification No FEMA 20R/2017 RB dated November 07, 2017, as amended from time to time (hereinafter referred to as FEMA 20R):

FED,MRO,CEFA Biosense Technologies Pvt Ltd., CA No.MUM 994/2019 (i) Para 9 (1) (A) of FEMA 20: Delay in reporting receipt of foreign inward remittance towards subscription to equity (ii) Para 9 (1) (B) of FEMA 20: Delay in filing Form FC GPR to Reserve Bank after issue of shares to person resident outside India 2 Brief details of the applicant company are as follows: Date of Incorporation December 05, 2008 Its main activities are: Other information technology and computer service activities

3 The applicant received foreign inward remittances from non-resident investors towards equity shares / compulsorily convertible preference shares/ compulsorily convertible debentures and it reported the same to the Reserve Bank on dates as indicated below. Delay in reporting Foreign Direct Investment &/or delay in allotting the shares/ refunding the amount (whereas, "Y" represents delay in number of years, "M" represents delay in number of months and "D" represents delay in number of days, and LSF stands for : Late Submission Fees

Sr. Date of Amount Date of Delay in Date of Delay in No/ inward received reporting to reporting allotme allotment LSF remittan (in INR) RBI Foreign nt/ or refund ce (DD-MM-YY) Investment refund (DD-MM-YY) (DD-MM-YY) 1 31-08-18 6Y 4M 9D 31-03-12 0Y 0M 0D 22-03-12 7,00,000.00 2 31-08-18 6Y 4M 2D 31-03-12 0Y 0M 0D 29-03-12 7,00,000.00 3 27-04-18 5Y 3M 6D 07-01-13 0Y 0M 0D 21-12-12 1,55,98,668.00 4 31-08-18 3Y 7M 2D 29-12-14 0Y 0M 0D 29-12-14 2,40,00,038.20 5 30-01-17 0Y 6M 3D 24-08-16 0Y 0M 0D 27-06-16 51,00,000.00 6 29-09-16 0 24-10-16 0Y 0M 0D 31-08-16 2,79,90,000.00 LSF 22-12-17 LSF Paid 18-11-17 0Y 0M 0D Paid 14-11-17 65,04,905.00 LSF 22-03-18 LSF Paid 13-02-18 0Y 0M 0D Paid 12-02-18 64,92,024.00 TOTAL 8,70,85,635.00

FED,MRO,CEFA Biosense Technologies Pvt Ltd., CA No.MUM 994/2019 In terms of Para 9 (1) (A) of FEMA 20, an Indian company issuing equity shares/ compulsorily convertible debentures/compulsorily convertible preference shares in accordance with these Regulations should report to the Reserve Bank of India as per the prescribed procedure not later than 30 days from the date of receipt of the amount of consideration. However the applicant company reported receipt of remittances to the Reserve Bank of India on dates indicated above in 5 out of 8 total remittances with a delay ranging from 0Y 6M 3D to 6Y 4M 9D. In case of the remittance/s amounting to Rs. 1,29,96,929 (Rupees One Crore Twenty Nine Lakh Ninety Six Thousand Nine Hundred Twenty Nine and Zero Paise Only) indicated in the above table as "LSF Paid", they were also reported with a delay. In terms of Regulation 13.2 of FEMA 20R/2017-RB, the person/ entity responsible for filing the reports stipulated in Regulation 13.1 shall be liable for payment of late submission fee, as may be decided by the Reserve Bank, in consultation with the Central Government, for any delays in reporting. Since the applicant has already deposited the LSF amount, this delay has not been taken into consideration for computing the amount for compounding the contraventions. 4 The company allotted equity shares/compulsorily convertible preference shares/compu convertible debentures and filed FC-GPRs as indicated below:

Delay in filing Form FCGPR (whereas, "Y" represents delay in number of years, "M" represents delay in number of months and "D" represents delay in number of days, LSF stands for : Late Submission Fees, IP stands for Issue Price and FV stands for Face Value Sr. Date of Number of IP (FV+ Amount Date of Delay in no/ allotment shares premium) (IP*no of reporting filing LSF (DD-MM- (in INR) shares) (DD-MM- FCGPR YY) (in INR) YY)

1 31-03-12 140000 10.00 21-11-12 0Y 6M 20D 14,00,000.00 2 07-01-13 1878 8306.00 01-10-19 6Y 7M 24D 1,55,98,668.00 3 29-12-14 2352 10200.00 22-04-16 1Y 2M 22D 2,39,90,400.00 4 24-08-16 340 15000.00 03-02-17 0Y 4M 10D 51,00,000.00 5 24-10-16 1866 15000.00 03-02-17 0Y 2M 10D 2,79,90,000.00 LSF 18-11-17 505 12881.00 22-12-17 LSF Paid Paid 65,04,905.00 LSF 13-02-18 504 12881.00 31-10-19 LSF Paid Paid 64,92,024.00 TOTAL 8,70,75,997.00

FED,MRO,CEFA Biosense Technologies Pvt Ltd., CA No.MUM 994/2019

The applicant filed form FC-GPRs as indicated above with a delay ranging from 0Y 2M 10D to 6Y 7M 24D. Whereas, in terms of Para 9(1) (B) of FEMA 20, an Indian company issuing shares in accordance with these Regulations has to submit to RBI a report in Form FC-GPR along with documents prescribed therein within 30 days from the date of issue of shares to Non Resident. In case of the allotment/s amounting to Rs. 1,29,96,929 (Rupees One Crore Twenty Nine Lakh Ninety Six Thousand Nine Hundred Twenty Nine and Zero Paise Only) indicated in the above table as "LSF Paid", they were also reported with a delay. In terms of Regulation 13.2 of FEMA 20R/2017-RB, the person/ entity responsible for filing the reports stipulated in Regulation 13.1 shall be liable for payment of late submission fee, as may be decided by the Reserve Bank, in consultation with the Central Government, for any delays in reporting. Since the applicant has already deposited the LSF amount, this delay has not been taken into consideration for computing the amount for compounding the contraventions. 5 The applicant was given an opportunity for personal hearing, for further submission in person and/or for producing documents, if any, in support of the application.

The applicant appeared for personal hearing on February 24, 2020 during which Shri Mayank Tiwari, CFO; Ms. Harsha Rawal, Director and Shri Sameer Maniar, Director represented the applicant in the office of compounding authority. The representatives of the applicant admitted the contraventions for which compounding has been sought. During the hearing by the compoudning authority the representatives of the applicant submitted that delay was inadvertent and unintentional. They requested that in view of the foregoing a lenient view may be taken in disposal of the application. The application for compounding is, therefore, being considered on the basis of the averments made in the application as well as other documents and submissions made in this context by the applicant during personal hearing and thereafter. 6 I have given my careful consideration to the documents on record and submissions made by the applicant during the personal hearing and thereafter. Accordingly, I hold that the applicant has contravened the following FEMA provisions issued in terms of: (i) Para 9 (1) (A) of FEMA 20, due to the delay in reporting of receipt of foreign inward remittance towards subscription towards shares as detailed above.

The contravention relates to total amount of Rs.4,60,98,706 (Rupees Four Crore Sixty Lakh Ninety Eight Thousand Seven Hundred Six and Zero Paise Only) and with a delay ranging from minimum 0Y 6M 3D to maximum 6Y 4M 9D approximately. (ii) Para 9 (1) (B) of FEMA 20, due to the delay in submission of Form FC- GPR to the Reserve Bank after issue of shares to persons resident outside India and the contravention relates to total amount of Rs.7,40,79,068 (Rupees Seven Crore Forty Lakh Seventy Nine Thousand Sixty Eight and Zero Paise Only) and with a delay ranging from minimum 0Y 2M 10D to maximum 6Y 7M 24D approximately.

FED,MRO,CEFA Biosense Technologies Pvt Ltd., CA No.MUM 994/2019 7 It has been declared in the compounding application dated November 01, 2019 that the particulars given by the applicant in the application are true and correct to the best of their/his/her knowledge and belief. It has also been declared in a declaration attached to the compounding application that the applicant was not under any enquiry/investigation/adjudication by any agency as on the date of the application and has, in this regard, not informed of initiation of any such enquiry/investigation/ adjudication proceedings against it/him/her thereafter. It has further been declared that the applicant has not filed any appeal under section 17 or section 19 of FEMA, 1999. Accordingly, the above contraventions which are being compounded in this Order are subject to the veracity of the above declarations made by the applicant and this order is without prejudice to any other action which may be taken by any authority under the extant laws if the said declarations are subsequently discovered to be false and/or incorrect. 8 In terms of Section 13 of the FEMA, any person contravening any provision of the Act shall be liable to a penalty up to thrice the sum involved in such contravention upon adjudication.

However, taking into account the relevant facts and circumstances of the case as stated in the foregoing paragraphs, I am persuaded to take a lenient view on the amount for which the contraventions are to be compounded and I consider that an amount of Rs.8,99,625 (Rupees Eight Lakh Ninety Nine Thousand Six Hundred Twenty Five and Zero Paise Only) will meet the ends of justice. 9 Accordingly, I compound the admitted contravention/s namely, the contravention/s of Para 9 (1) (A) of FEMA 20 and Para 9 (1) (B) of FEMA 20, by the applicant, on the facts discussed above in terms of the Foreign Exchange (Compounding Proceedings) Rules, 2000 on payment of an amount of Rs. 8,99,625 (Rupees Eight Lakh Ninety Nine Thousand Six Hundred Twenty Five and Zero Paise Only) which shall be deposited by the applicant with the Reserve Bank of India, Foreign Exchange Department, Mumbai Regional Office, Main Building, 3rd floor, Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg, Fort, Mumbai-400001 by a demand draft drawn in favour of the "Reserve Bank of India" and payable at Mumbai within a period of 15 days from the date of this order.

In case of failure to deposit the compounded amount within the above-mentioned period, Rule 10 of the Foreign Exchange (Compounding Proceedings) Rules, 2000 dated May 3, 2000 shall apply. 10 The above order is passed only in respect of contraventions of Para 9 (1) (A) of FEMA 20 and Para 9 (1) (B) of FEMA 20 and does not restrict the right of any other authority to proceed against the Company for any other violations/contraventions noticed at any point of time. 11 The application is disposed of accordingly.

FED,MRO,CEFA Biosense Technologies Pvt Ltd., CA No.MUM 994/2019 Sd/- (Aviral Jain) Chief Genral Manager and Compounding Authority

Dated: February 28, 2020

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