LinkedIn India, Satya Nadella, Others Fined INR 27 Lakh For Breaching Beneficial Ownership Norms

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has imposed fines to the tune of  INR 27 Lakh on LinkedIn India, the professional networking platform owned by Microsoft, and its CEO Satya Nadella, along with eight other individuals, for violating significant beneficial ownership (SBO) norms under the Companies Act, 2013.

The penalties were detailed in a 63-page order issued by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) for the National Capital Territory of Delhi and Haryana, PTI reported.

“… Satya Nadella and Ryan Roslansky are the SBOs in relation to the subject company and are liable to a penalty under section 90(10) of the Act, due to their failure to report as per section 90(1),” the order read.

Section 90 of the Act pertains to SBO, mandating companies to disclose SBO details. According to the order, the company and its officers face liability for failing to undertake necessary measures to identify the SBO in relation to the company.

“All the officers, including the non-executive directors, are liable for this violation due to the presumption of clear knowledge on the part of each of such directors about the holding structure of the company,” the order added.

It further mentioned that a penalty of INR 7 lakh has been imposed on LinkedIn India, with INR 2 lakh each being slapped on Nadella and LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky.

Other individuals who have been fined include Keith Ranger Dolliver, Benjamin Owen Orndorff, Michelle Katty Leung, Lisa Emiko Sato, Ashutosh Gupta, Mark Leonard Nadres Legaspi, and Henry Chining Fong.

As per the order, the company and its officers neglected to send a mandatory notice as required by rule 2A(2) of the Companies (SBO) Rules, 2018, leading to a breach of section 90(5), for which penalties are provided under section 450. All officers, including non-executive directors, are liable due to the presumption of their clear knowledge about the company’s holding structure.

LinkedIn India has been established as a subsidiary of the Microsoft Group. Currently, LinkedIn claims to have about 120 Mn members in India, and the company aims to use the rise of AI to impact more than half of the jobs in India. 

The development comes at a time when, Ashutosh Gupta, the India country manager and APAC head of online sales for LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, decided to leave the company at the end of April after an 11-year stint.