ED removes provisional freeze on FTIL's HDFC Bank account

Crisis-hit Financial Technologies India (FTIL) today said the Enforcement Directorate has directed HDFC Bank to secure Rs 30.27 crore and then allow normal debit-credit operations in the current account.

On September 28, Jignesh Shah-led FTIL had said that the the Enforcement Directorate, Mumbai, asked HDFC Bank to provide the bank account statement of a current account of the company and also provisionally freeze it.

In a filing to the BSE, FTIL said "the Directorate of Enforcement, Mumbai, has on October 4, 2016, directed HDFC Bank to secure only the amount of Rs 30.27 crores and thereafter allow normal debit-credit operations in the said account." Earlier this week, FTIL had said that it received an order from the Enforcement Directorate, Mumbai, attaching securities worth Rs 1,065 crore. The ED had also attached mutual funds amounting to Rs 306.70 crore last month.

FTIL is in crisis following the Rs 5,600 crore payment default at its subsidiary National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) in mid-2013 affecting 13,000 investors.

NSEL's payment troubles started after it was ordered by the then commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) to suspend spot trade in most of its contracts due to suspected violation of trading norms.

The agency had recently made few arrests, including that of FTIL founder Jignesh Shah.

Earlier this year, the government had ordered a merger of scam-hit NSEL with its parent FTIL.