RBI to conduct special audit of IIFL Finance, JM Financial for regulatory breaches; tenders floated to appoint auditors

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will conduct a special audit for regulatory breaches by the IIFL Finance Ltd and JM Financial Products Ltd (JMFPL) as it has initiated the process for appointment of auditors.

The central bank has floated two separate tenders for appointment of auditors for special audits of the two non-banking finance companies (NBFCs).

According to the tender document, audit firms empanelled by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for forensic audit can participate in the tendering process. The last date for submission of bids is April 8 and the selected firms will be awarded work on April 12, 2024.

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Earlier in March, the RBI had put curbs on the IIFL Finance and JM Financial Products for non-compliance of regulatory guidelines.

It had barred IIFL Finance from sanctioning or disbursing gold loans after certain material supervisory concerns were observed in its gold loan portfolio.

The RBI had said an inspection of the company was carried out by it with reference to IIFL's financial position as of March 31, 2023. 

“Certain material supervisory concerns were observed in the gold loan portfolio of the company, including serious deviations in assaying and certifying purity and net weight of the gold at the time of sanction of loans and at the time of auction upon default,” the RBI had said.

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A day after, the RBI had imposed curbs on JM Financial Products following the finding that the company indulged in various manipulations, including repeatedly helping a group of its own customers to bid for various IPOs by using loaned funds.

The central bank had barred the NBFC from providing any kind of financing against shares and debentures, including sanction and disbursal of loans against initial public offering (IPO) of shares and subscription to debentures.

The actions were “necessitated due to certain serious deficiencies observed in respect of loans sanctioned by the company for IPO financing as well as NCD (non-convertible debentures) subscriptions,” the RBI had said.