“Prabir Purkayastha, the director of the NewsClick company, was found to be in charge of and responsible for the conduct of business at the relevant time and was therefore held liable under Section 42 of FEMA,” said the ED. File
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The adjudicating authority under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) has passed an order imposing a penalty of ₹184 crore in the case of PPK Newsclick Studio Private Limited, the Enforcement Directorate said on Monday (February 16, 2026).
The company owns NewsClick, a digital news platform, which was founded by its editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha.
The adjudication proceedings were initiated on a complaint under Section 16 of FEMA filed by the ED alleging contraventions of FEMA and the rules and regulations pertaining to the receipt and utilisation of foreign funds.
According to the ED, the adjudicating authority, after a detailed examination of records, evidence, and submissions of the noticees, held that the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) amounting to about ₹9.59 crore was received during 2018-19 by misrepresenting the nature of business activity in statutory filings, thereby bypassing prescribed sectoral conditions and entry route requirements under FEMA.
“Foreign inward remittances aggregating to ₹82.63 crore, purportedly received between 2018-19 to 2023-24 towards export of services, were found to be in contravention of FEMA provisions due to misclassification of exports and failure to comply with mandatory reporting requirements, including submission of SOFTEX forms,” it said.
The adjudicating authority found that the transactions were deliberately structured in a manner that defeated the objectives of the foreign exchange regulatory framework. “Prabir Purkayastha, the director of the company, was found to be in charge of and responsible for the conduct of business at the relevant time and was therefore held liable under Section 42 of FEMA,” said the ED.
“The adjudicating authority observed that the contraventions were substantial, deliberate, and systemic in nature, involving large-scale foreign exchange transactions and breach of statutory declarations furnished to regulatory authorities. Therefore, in exercise of powers under Section 13(1) of FEMA, the following penalties have been imposed by the adjudicating authority (FEMA): ₹120 crore on PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt. Ltd.; ₹64 crore on Prabir Purkayastha, director of the company,” it said.
In February 2021, the ED had searched the premises of Mr. Purkayastha and the Newsclick office.
Published – February 16, 2026 11:58 pm IST
