More Stories

Informist, Monday, Mar. 23, 2026

 

--HC upholds Fino Payments Bank CEO, MD Gupta's arrest in tax evasion case

 

NEW DELHI – The Telangana High Court Monday upheld the arrest of Rishi Gupta, chief executive officer and managing director of Fino Payments Bank Ltd., in connection with alleged goods and services tax evasion involving merchant entities using the bank's payment aggregation platform. Dismissing Gupta's challenge against his arrest, the high court said, "The petition being without merit, is therefore dismissed". 

 

The case has its genesis in the GST department investigating alleged GST evasion linked to online betting applications. The department alleged that there was large-scale tax evasion, where merchants reportedly processed transactions worth about INR 100 billion without issuing invoices. The department was examining whether funds generated through betting apps were moved through a network of entities, including certain digital solution firms. 

 

The probe also centres on allegations that dummy merchants were onboarded to facilitate gaming services without invoices, allegedly resulting in GST evasion. Authorities were probing the role of intermediaries and payment gateways in processing these transactions and whether due diligence norms were adequately followed.

 

Appearing for Gupta, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that the petitioner had no direct involvement in the alleged evasion. Fino Payments Bank operates solely as a payment aggregator and banking platform, providing infrastructure for transactions without liability for the tax compliance of sellers or buyers, said Singhvi.

 

There were no personal allegations of GST default against Gupta, with claims limited to certain suppliers using the platform, said Singhvi. Fino Payments Bank adhered to the Reserve Bank of India-prescribed protocol for onboarding and de-boarding merchants, removing non-compliant entities, Singhvi said. Gupta had no personal involvement in onboarding merchants and, therefore, criminal liability couldn't be attributed to him for alleged defaults by third-party sellers, said Singhvi.

 

He said that INR 280 million in GST had already been paid. Singhvi argued why similar payment aggregators such as HDFC Bank and Razorpay Software Pvt. Ltd. had not faced scrutiny despite comparable models.

 

Additional Solicitor General N. Venkataraman, appearing for the department, said that the matter was a “serious economic offence” involving a vast tax evasion network. The due process was followed, including the issuance of summons and authorisation for arrest by the additional director general or commissioner of the department, said Venkataraman.

 

At 1459 IST, the shares of Fino Payments Bank were down 7.1% at INR 140.10 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.