Case Brief
What Happened
The Reserve Bank of India imposed a monetary penalty of ₹4.88 lakh on HDFC Bank Ltd. under Section 11(3) of FEMA, 1999. The penalty was for contravention of Paragraph 9.3.6 of the Master Direction – Foreign Investment in India dated January 04, 2018, arising while the bank was granting a term loan to its client. RBI issued a show cause notice, received the bank’s written reply and oral submissions, and concluded that the contraventions were established. RBI clarified that the action was only for deficiencies in regulatory compliance and did not pronounce on the validity of any transaction or agreement with customers.