The Bank in an exchange filing issued a list of key facts and clarification stating that the Investigation by the Director General of GST Intelligence – authority was in relation to the program manager(s) associated with multiple banks including the Bank and not on the GST compliance of the Bank itself.
The Bank said that it is co-operating with the authority for providing all the relevant information to support the investigation and that & its officials have nothing to do with the business / actions of the program manager(s) in question.
“We do not directly or indirectly engage / or promote any kind of betting activity through any forum, website, platform or in any form. We have not evaded any GST dues and are compliant with all the regulations relating to payment of GST,” the bank said in its filing.
Further it said that as part of the onboarding checks, one of pre-condition is that the merchants referred by the program manager(s) need to have an existing banking relationship with another Bank for facilitating the UPI transactions.
The Bank clarified that it has not issued any alleged fake invoice. All invoices issued are based on the services utilised by the program manager(s) / merchants. The Bank has made its GST payments and complies with related regulations with respect to the fees / revenue earned by the Bank.
The Bank said that it does not maintain any current account of the program manager(s) / merchants. The funds received through the VPA handle provided by the Bank are subsequently settled to the designated bank accounts of the program managers / merchants with the respective public / private sector banks.
The RBI has given the bank a timeline of 18 months to complete the conversion of the Bank into Small Finance Bank.
“We expect to complete the process before the stipulated timeline. The Board / senior management official continues to actively review the situation and will take appropriate steps in accordance with applicable laws and governance standards,” the Bank noted.
“The issue is with regards to a GST investigation pertaining to program managers who have relationship with other banks including Fino Payments Banks Limited. The Bank and its MD CEO – Mr. Rishi Gupta have nothing to do with the actions of the programme managers,” noted Ketan Merchant, Chief Financial Officer, Fino Payments Bank Limited.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman responded to industry concerns over alleged GST overreach, stating on X: “Thanks for sharing this. Will check,” committing to review the matter.
MD & CEO Mr. Rishi Gupta of Fino Payments Bank was arrested on February 27, 2026, under Sections 132(1)(a) and 132(1)(i) of the CGST and SGST Acts, 2017. A special board meeting appointed CFO Ketan Merchant as interim head to oversee daily operations until resolved or Gupta resumes
The case involves a DGGI Hyderabad probe into alleged GST evasion through shell entities and online betting funds routed via program managers like Wegofin Digital, impacting Fino among others; the Bank denies all wrongdoing while operations proceed uninterrupted amid sub-judice proceedings.
