The victory, after weeks of legal disputes in Indian courts, strengthens Netflix.
Netflix Inc. won the right to air a series featuring Indian moguls who ran into trouble with the law, a victory that may boost its efforts to offer more local content in a crucial emerging market.
A court in the country allowed the US streaming giant to publish most of the episodes of “Bad Boy Billionaires: India,” a series documenting the tribulations of beer mogul Vijay Mallya, diamondbacker Nirav Modi and Subrata Roy, founder and owner. of the realty-to-shadow financial group, Sahara India Pariwar. However, an episode about a software mogul still faces a challenge in another local court.
The victory, after weeks of legal disputes in Indian courts, strengthens Netflix, which is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in India to offer more local content. The company targets a larger slice of Asia’s largest open market, with more than 500 million smartphone users.
The series “explores the greed, fraud and corruption that amassed – and ultimately brought down – India’s most infamous tycoons,” Netflix says on its website. The fourth episode of the series, about B. Ramalinga Raju, remains on hold as Netflix is contesting a legal challenge in this regard. Raju confessed to inflating the assets of his software company, Satyam Computer Services Ltd., by roughly $ 1 billion in 2009.
Netflix India declined to comment on the ongoing legal challenge and the recent legal victory.
Vijay Mallya, once called the “King of the good old days” for his extravagant lifestyle, is fighting his extradition to India. He was arrested in London in 2017 after 17 Indian banks accused him of intentionally defaulting on more than 91 billion rupees ($ 1.2 billion) in debt accumulated by Kingfisher Airlines, an airline he founded in 2005 and closed seven years later. .
Nirav Modi, a former billionaire who used to be a jeweler for Hollywood stars (Kate Winslet wore his creations at the Oscars) is also fighting extradition to India; He is accused of defrauding a lender of looks of around $ 2 billion.
Juggle the accounts
Roy was placed in custody in 2014 for failing to comply with an Indian market regulator’s order for a $ 3.9 billion refund to depositors by his Sahara group, forcing the tycoon to sell assets. He has been on probation since 2016. Sahara, who had opposed the Netflix series and received a suspension order last month, told the local court in his petition that the documentary degraded Roy and his conglomerate and made unsubstantiated claims. .
Raju was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2015 after an Indian court found him guilty of falsifying accounts at his company, Satyam, by falsifying invoices, inflating cash reserves and underestimating debt. Raju told a Hyderabad court that broadcasting the documentary would amount to defamation, while the cases against him are still being heard in court.
.
