Gold loan giant Muthoot Finance on Saturday said MD George Alexander Muthoot had been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to provide certain clarifications and factual information on the role of Muthoot group in facilitating non-convertible debentures (NCDs) issued by Srei group companies, according to an exchange filing.
“The interaction was purely in the nature of information sharing and the company and its officials have extended full cooperation to the authorities,” the company said in response to news agency PTI’s report.
The report, quoting police officials, said the branch managers of Muthoot Finance lured investors with the promise of returns of 8 to 12 percent on certain fixed deposits and NCDs but “funneled” the money to Srei Equipment Finance. This company, PTI said citing sources, was “misrepresented” as a sister concern of the Muthoot group.
Muthoot Finance said that for NCD issues of Srei group companies, Axis Trustee Services acted as the bond trustee, Karvy Computershare was the issue registrar and the NCDs were rated ‘BWR AA+/Stable’ by Brickwork.
Further, the Lead Manager for the issue of Srei Infrastructure Finance was SPA Capital Advisors Limited, and the Lead Managers for the issue of Srei Equipment Finance Limited were Edelweiss Financial Services Limited, AK Capital Services Limited, IIFL Holdings Limited, SPA Capital Advisors Limited, Tipsons Consultancy Services Private Limited and Trust Investment Advisors Private Limited.
“Muthoot Securities Limited (MSTL), is a SEBI registered brokerage firm where the promoter family of Muthoot Finance Ltd holds 82 percent of the shares and Muthoot Finance Ltd holds 18 percent of the shares. MSTL acted as one of the many brokers in the above-mentioned public issue of NCDs of Srei Cos for the distribution of NCDs. Muthoot Group employees were allowed to obtain leads from their interested customers,” said Muthoot Finance.
“It is important to note that MSTL was one of the many SEBI registered brokers who undertook the distribution of NCDs of Srei Cos as well as bidding on the exchange platform and submitting checks and application forms to the Collection Bank,” it added.
There has never been any commercial or business relationship between Muthoot Finance and Srei companies or any of its directors or promoters, the gold loan financier said, adding that the statement or implication to the contrary is false and baseless.
The RBI had replaced the boards of directors of Srei Infrastructure Finance and Srei Equipment Finance in October 2021 due to governance issues, financial irregularities and failure to meet their various payment obligations. The government-backed NARCL won the bid to acquire these two Srei group companies through the IBC route in 2023.
Published on October 11, 2025
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