Rajasthan Royals fined for foreign exchange breaches

Owners of Indian Premier League side Rajasthan Royals have been slapped with a fine of one billion rupees ($18.8 million) for alleged foreign exchange violations, media reports said on Monday. 

The enforcement directorate of the ministry of finance has given the owners, who include Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty and her businessman husband Raj Kundra, 45 days to pay the fine or file an appeal. 

"The foreign investment in the franchise was made in flagrant contravention of Foreign Exchange Maintenance Act," NDTV news channel quoted an order from the directorate as saying. 

This is the first major fine imposed on an IPL team by the government, which has been investigating financial and foreign exchange irregularities in the Twenty20 league.