CBI investigates Kanishk Gold for 824 crore loan fraud

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Mar 22, 2018

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a first information report (FIR) on Kanishk Gold for an alleged 824 crore rupee (approximately 123.9 million US dollars) loan fraud concerning a group of 14 banks.

Kanishk Gold Private Limited, which markets gold jewellery under the brand name Krizz, has been accused of fraud by the State Bank of India (SBI) which has led the CBI to file a FIR to investigate the matter. The SBI is acting on behalf of a 14 bank consortium involved in the matter.

Krizz by Kanishk previously sold gold jewellery through distributors but changed its retail strategy in 2015 to a business to business (B2B) model that supplies large retail jewellers, according to the SBI’s complaint. The SBI also claims that the business had falsified records to show a good financial situation since 2009 to banks when this was nottruly the case and had also diverted funds.

After the SBI requested the CBI to register a case against the business’ Promoter and Director Bhoopesh Kumar Jain and others, the CBI carried out searches at the Promoters’ residences on March 21. Various banks have already declared Kanishk fraudulent but the CBI investigation is ongoing.