Got NOC from RBI: Kerala FM on ED complaint in KIIFB masala bonds

Mar 03, 2021

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Mar 04 (ANI): After the Enforcement Directorate registered a case against Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) for external borrowings via Masala bonds without “permission” from the union government, and asked KFIIB’s CEO and Deputy Managing Director to appear before it, state finance minister Thomas Isaac criticised the Centre over the issue, and said that they had received NOC from RBI to go ahead for the external borrowings and there was no violation of FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) in this. “There's a guideline that authorizes anybody corporate to seek their permission to borrow through masala bonds. KIIFB is body corporate and we applied through specified roots, we got NOC from RBI. There's absolutely no violation of FEMA,” Isaac told ANI in Thiruvananthapuram. KFIIB CEO KM Abraham and Deputy Managing Director Vikramjit Singh have been asked by ED to appear before its Kochi office on March 05 and March 04 respectively.