India said to have referred deal to forex probe agency

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has asked a federal agency to probe if a deal by Tata Sons to sell a stake in its wireless unit for about $2.5 billion to NTT DoCoMo violated the country's foreign exchange rules, people familiar with the matter said. The Enforcement Directorate will probe if the transaction, which took place in 2009, breached India's Foreign Exchange Management Act, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. Tata Sons in an e-mail said it wasn't aware of any referral to the directorate. Under the deal, DoCoMo has the right to request a buyer for its stake in Tata Teleservices Ltd. at a fair market price or 50 percent of its acquisition cost, whichever is higher.

 

 

Indian authorities say Docomo can only sell its stake at a "fair value." Accumulated losses at Tata Teleservices mean Docomo's stake is valued at less than 50 percent of the acquisition cost. In June, the London Court of International Arbitration ordered that Tata Sons pay $1.17 billion to the Japanese wireless carrier for failing to uphold the contract.