An email by a Home Ministry official to a former employee of Netflix indicates that the Indian operations of the US streaming giant may be under investigation for visa violations and racial discrimination, among other issues.
The email was sent on July 20 by Deepak Yadav from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in New Delhi to Nandini Mehta, the former director of business and legal affairs for Netflix in India, who quit the multinational firm in 2020, according to Reuters.
“We have received certain details in this regard with respect to the stated company’s conduct, visa violation, illegal structures, tax evasion and other malpractices including incidents of racial discrimination that the company has been engaged in while conducting its business in India,” wrote Yadav in his email.
Yadav, the author of the email, declined to make any comment saying he was not authorised to speak to the media. The FRRO and the Home Ministry both did not respond to queries from the news agency on the issue.
Unaware of any investigation: Netflix
A spokesperson from Netflix said the company was “unaware of an investigation by the Indian government”.
Nandini Mehta said she welcomed the investigation and hoped the authorities would make their findings public, though she did not give any more details on the allegations by the government. The government’s email asked her to provide “details/documents” since she was a former legal executive at the company.
Mehta filed lawsuit against Netflix in US
The former senior executive of Netflix, Nandini Mehta, in an emailed statement said she is pursuing a lawsuit against the company in the US for alleged wrongful termination and racial and gender discrimination. She sued Netflix in 2021 in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Netflix has denied these charges.
Nandini said she will continue to fight for justice. Her case is slated for a status hearing on Monday (September 23) in Los Angeles.
Nandini was fired: Netflix
Netflix in its statement in the court said Nandini Mehta was fired for repeatedly using her corporate credit card for tens of thousands of dollars in personal expenses, and denied “each and every allegation”.
According to Nandini’s LinkedIn profile, she worked at Netflix’s Los Angeles and Mumbai offices from April 2018 to April 2020.
Tax demand in India
Netflix has faced a tax demand in India since last year.
The government did not specify which agencies are handling the issues raised in the email. FRRO usually works closely with the home ministry’s Intelligence Bureau, and also acts as a liaison in matters connected to foreigners with other government offices.
Netflix considers India a growth market and has about 10 million subscribers in a nation of 1.4 billion people.
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