Soros-Funded Indian Company Got Rs 8 Crore From USAID
The Enforcement Directorate has uncovered financial transactions linking billionaire philanthropist George Soros’s Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF) to the NGO sector in India, raising concerns over possible violations of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms. Investigators have found that SEDF, the social impact investment arm of the Open Society Institute (OSI), provided funds to three Indian companies—Rootbridge Services Pvt Ltd (RSPL), Rootbridge Academy Pvt Ltd (RAPL), and ASAR Social Impact Advisors Pvt Ltd (ASAR)—under the pretext of foreign direct investment (FDI) or consultancy/service fees. ED, which was probing three Bengaluru-based companies for alleged breach of Foreign Exchange Management Act in receiving Rs 25 crore from Soros Economic Development Fund, has found that one of those, ASAR Social Impact Advisors, also received Rs 8 crore from USAID as foreign inward remittance in 2022-23.
These companies received approximately Rs 25 crore between 2020-2021 and 2023-2024, despite OSI being under the scrutiny of the Home Ministry since May 2016 for undesirable activities. RSPL alone received Rs 18.64 crore from SEDF through Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS), valued at an inflated Rs 2.5-2.6 lakh per share based on the Discounted Cash Flow method. Similarly, RAPL, a company incorporated in 2019 to provide fundraising services for non-profits, received Rs 2.70 crore as “commission agent services” from SEDF. However, the ED noted that RAPL had not actually provided any services in return, suggesting it acted as a conduit to circumvent FCRA regulations.
The ED probe traced OSI-linked investments to Aspada Investment Company (AIC), a Mauritius-based entity that allegedly funnelled funds into India. The probe found that Aspada Investment Advisors Pvt Ltd (AIAPL), incorporated in Bengaluru in 2013, managed and advised SEDF’s investments in India, which amounted to over Rs 300 crore across 12 companies.
Interestingly, the ED has noted that Lightrock Investment Advisors Private Limited (formerly Aspada Investment Advisors Private Limited), the official investment advisory firm overseeing SEDF’s Indian portfolio, was reportedly not informed about these transactions, raising further suspicions. Soros’s name has been linked to political and financial controversies, most notably in relation to the Adani Group. In 2023, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) alleged that the Adani Group used opaque Mauritius-based funds for investments in its own companies.
