BBC staff to launch new company for Indian language services

New Delhi: British broadcaster BBC is launching a new company for Indian language services, in compliance with foreign investment rules that authorities in India alleged BBC violated after it aired a critical documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The broadcaster said on Tuesday four staff members, including current India head Rupa Jha, will leave the organisation to form the new company named "Collective Newsroom" and provide services as commissioned by BBC.

The broadcaster is under scrutiny for alleged foreign exchange violations in India and an investigation was launched shortly after-tax authorities searched BBC's offices in Delhi and Mumbai in February.

This followed the government's angry reaction to a BBC documentary in January that examined Modi's leadership during deadly communal riots in Gujarat state in 2002, in which at least 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims.

BBC has said it was cooperating fully with tax authorities and hoped to resolve matters quickly.