MUMBAI: India is investigating the business practices of OTT platform Netflix’s local operations, including allegations of visa violations and racial discrimination, according to a government email sent to a former executive. The details of India’s investigation were included in a 20 July email, reviewed by Reuters, which was written by a home ministry official to Netflix’s former director of business and legal affairs for India, Nandini Mehta, who left the company in 2020.
Mehta worked at Netflix’s’ Los Angeles and Mumbai offices from April 2018 to April 2020.
“This is regarding visa and tax violations concerns regarding the business practices of Netflix in India. We have received certain details in this regard wrt (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 Indian official Deepak Yadav from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) of the home ministry in New Delhi.
In an emailed statement, Mehta said that she is pursuing a lawsuit in the US against Netflix for alleged wrongful termination as well as racial and gender discrimination. The company denies all the charges.
The report noted that Mehta said she welcomed the Indian investigation and hopes the authorities make their findings public but did not elaborate on the allegations made by the government.
Yadav declined to comment. The FRRO and India’s home ministry did not respond to Reuters queries.
But a Netflix spokesperson told Reuters that Netflix was “unaware of an investigation by the Indian government.”
Reuters added that the company has also often faced heat in India over its content deemed insensitive by some users. This month, it was forced to add new disclaimers to an Indian series about a plane hijack after social media outrage and government anger over what they said was Muslim hijackers being shown as Hindus.
The Indian government email asked her to provide “details/documents” as she was a former legal executive of the company.
In 2021, Mehta sued Netflix in Los Angeles County Superior Court in California for alleged wrongful termination and racial and gender discrimination, among other things, US court filings show.
