Fino Payments Bank MD and CEO Rishi Gupta arrested under GST Act; CFO Ketan Merchant assumes charge

Fino Payments Bank Ltd on Friday (February 27) said its Managing Director and CEO Rishi Gupta has been arrested under the CGST and SGST Act. The information was disclosed in a swap file.

The bank said the investigation was related to the bank’s business partners and not to GST compliance. It was also stated that none of the bank officials were involved in the incident and that the authorities were cooperating with the investigation.

According to the information provided by the bank, the arrest was made only in relation to Rishi Gupta.

The statement said, “There is no impact on the bank at the moment. If there is any impact in the future, the necessary announcement will be made to the stock exchanges.”

What is the situation?

Rishi Gupta was arrested under the provisions of Section 132(1)(a) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017 and Section 132(1)(i) of the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) Act, 2017.

Section 132(1)(a) of the CGST Act, 2017 deals with cases where a person procures any goods or services or both without issuing invoices in violation of the provisions of the Act or the rules framed under it, with the intention of evading the law.XAccording to CBIC Tax Information.

CFO Ketan Merchant takes over

In addition, a special board meeting was held on Friday, at which Chief Financial Officer Ketan Merchant was appointed as Head of Organization, Fino Payments said in a statement.

Merchant was given the responsibility of overseeing the day-to-day operations of the bank in Rishi Gupta’s absence, until otherwise decided by the board or until Gupta returns to duty, whichever occurs first.

Fino Payments Bank’s shares closed on: ₹Bombay Stock Exchange fell to 192.45 ₹15.60 or 7.50% for the day.

Fino Payments Bank is a Navi Mumbai-based bank founded in 2017, focusing on digital payments, CASA accounts and financial inclusion. Fino is a subsidiary of Paytech Limited. It operates on an asset-light, trader-focused model with a strong PAN-India presence.