As per a government mail sent to a former executive, India is now investigating the business practices of US streaming giant Netflix’s local operations, including allegations of visa violations and racial discrimination.
Indian Government Investigates Netflix for Visa, Tax Violations, and Discrimination Allegations
In a July 20 email, the details of the country’s investigation conducted under home ministry were sent to Netflix’s former director of business and legal affairs for India, Nandini Mehta, who left the company in 2020.
Deepak Yadav, Indian Official from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) of the home ministry in New Delhi wrote “This is regarding visa and tax violations concerns regarding the business practices of Netflix in India”. He further added “We have received certain details in this regard w.r.t (with respect to) the stated company’s conduct, visa violation, illegal structures, tax evasion and other malpractices including incidents of racial discrimination that company has been engaged in while conducting its business in India”.
Mehta, in an emailed statement, said that she is pursuing a lawsuit in US against the company for alleged wrongful termination as well as racial and gender discrimination. Netflix however denies the charges.
A Netflix spokesperson said the company was “unaware of an investigation by the Indian government.”
Investigations Over Content, Visa Compliance, and Discrimination in India
Netflix in India has roughly 10 million users and is also considered by the company as a growth market so that they can tap into more affluent people in a country of 1.4 billion.
Over the course of its journey, Netflix has developed more local content featuring Bollywood actors.
Previously, the company also faced the flak in India over its content wherein it was recently forced to add a new disclaimer to an Indian series about a plane hijacker after the social media uproar as well as government anger that the Muslim hijackers were called by Hindu names.
It is known that since 2023, Netflix has faced an Indian tax demand, which the former is challenging. In addition to this, the company is any which way facing an investigation over the visa compliance and racial discrimination issue.
It is the FRRO, in coordination with the India’s Intelligence Bureau, who is checking the issue, particularly the one with Visa compliance in restricted area.
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