India's Rajesh Exports chair asserts accuracy of financials after SEBI allegations

Financial disclosures of India’s Rajesh Exports over the years were correct, its chairman told Reuters on Thursday, a day after the country’s markets regulator alleged the jeweller inflated the scale of its revenue through unverified overseas entities.

The regulator’s observations stemmed from differences in revenue calculations and did not consider the company’s consolidated revenue, Chairman Rajesh Mehta said.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said on Wednesday 97–99% of Rajesh Exports’ revenue came from overseas subsidiaries, mainly Switzerland-based Valcambi SA, but the jeweller did not disclose their financials.

The Switzerland unit, one of the leading gold refiners in the world, was presented as the key operating entity but reported negligible standalone revenue. As a result, Rajesh Exports misrepresented about 15.15 trillion rupees ($158.17 billion), or 99.8% of subsidiary revenues, between fiscal 2021 and 2025, according to SEBI.

Mehta said that as the world’s largest gold refiner, Valcambi refined 3,000 ton of gold over fiscal 2021-2025, ”so naturally” its revenue would be over 15 trillion rupees.

”The biggest SEBI observation is on difference in revenue which is large because SEBI did not consider consolidated revenue but only standalone,” Mehta said.

($1 = 95.7850 Indian rupees)