Indian minister says signs of IPL teams violating corporate law

The Indian government has said it has found signs of company law violations in the ownership structures of several IPL teams and has asked the Registrar of Companies (RoC) to take legal action.

"The preliminary information/reports have indicated non-compliance with certain provisions of the Companies Act, 1956," minister of state for corporate affairs Salman Khurshid said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament.

Last month, Khurshid had told the Financial Express that the government hadn't uncovered any "serious" non-compliance issues the IPL franchises may have allegedly committed under the Companies Act.

The RoC had written in April to all IPL teams seeking complete information, including ownership details and proof of filing tax returns.

The government began investigating the IPL after its suspended chairman Lalit Modi questioned the shareholding pattern of the Kochi franchise on Twitter. The ensuing furore led to the resignation of Shashi Tharoor as minister of state for external affairs and the suspension of Modi from the BCCI. Since then the corporate affairs ministry has been gathering details from IPL team owners about their ownership structure and funding arrangements.