Anil Ambani offers to 'virtually appear' before ED in FEMA case
New Delhi (PTI): Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani has offered to appear before the Enforcement Directorate through "virtual means" following summons issued to him under the FEMA for Friday.
A statement issued by a spokesperson of the 66-year-old businessman said he has written to the federal probe agency assuring "fully cooperation" in the probe being conducted under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The agency, according to sources, had asked Ambani to appear in person on Friday and get recorded his statement under the FEMA.
The investigation pertains to the Jaipur-Reengus Highway Project where the ED suspects that funds worth about Rs 100 crore were sent abroad via the hawala route.
The ED has recorded the statement of various persons, including some alleged hawala dealers, following which they decided to summon Ambani, the sources said.
Hawala denotes illegal movement of funds, largely in cash.
The businessman has once been questioned by the ED in a money laundering case linked to an alleged Rs 17,000 crore worth bank fraud against his group companies.
"The matter (FEMA case) is 15 years old, dates to 2010, and concerns issues associated with a road contractor," the statement said.
In 2010, Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. awarded an EPC contract for the construction of the JR Toll Road (Jaipur-Ringus Highway), it said.
"This was a purely domestic contract with no foreign exchange component involved whatsoever.
"The JR Toll Road has been fully completed and, from 2021 onwards has been with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for over past four years," the statement added.
Ambani is not a member of the Board of Reliance Infrastructure.
"He served the company for about fifteen years, from April 2007 to March 2022, only as a non-executive director, and was never involved in day-to-day management of the company," it said.
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Texas halts H-1B visas at state universities, agencies; to affect Indians
Houston (US) (PTI): Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered state agencies and public universities to immediately halt new H-1B visa petitions, tightening hiring rules at taxpayer-funded institutions, a step likely to impact Indian professionals.
The freeze will remain in effect through May 2027.
The directive issued on Tuesday said that the state agencies and public universities must stop filing new petitions unless they receive written approval from the Texas Workforce Commission.
The governor's order, in a red state that is home to thousands of H-1B visa holders, comes as the Trump administration has initiated steps to reshape the visa programme.
“In light of recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa programme, and amid the federal government’s ongoing review of that programme to ensure American jobs are going to American workers, I am directing all state agencies to immediately freeze new H-1B visa petitions as outlined in this letter,” Abbot said.
Institutions must also report on H-1B usage, including numbers, job roles, countries of origin, and visa expiry dates, the letter said.
US President Donald Trump on September 19 last year signed a proclamation ‘Restriction on entry of certain non-immigrant workers’ that restricted the entry into the US of those workers whose H-1B petitions are not accompanied or supplemented by a payment of USD 1,00,000.
The H1-B visa fee of USD 1,00,000 would be applicable only to new applicants, i.e. all new H-1B visa petitions submitted after September 21, including those for the FY2026 lottery.
Indians make up an estimated 71 per cent of all approved H-1B applications in recent years, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), with China in the second spot. The major fields include technology, engineering, medicine, and research.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the second-highest beneficiary with 5,505 approved H-1B visas in 2025, after Amazon (10,044 workers on H-1B visas), according to the USCIS. Other top beneficiaries include Microsoft (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202), Google (4,181), Deloitte (2,353), Infosys (2,004), Wipro (1,523) and Tech Mahindra Americas (951).
Texas public universities employ hundreds of foreign faculty and researchers, many from India, across engineering, healthcare, and technology fields.
Date from Open Doors -- a comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars studying or teaching at higher education institutions in the US -- for 2022-2023 showed 2,70,000 students from India embarked on graduate and undergraduate degrees in US universities, accounting for 25 per cent of the international student population in the US and 1.5 per cent of the total student population.
Indian students infuse roughly USD 10 billion annually into universities and related businesses across the country through tuition and other expenses – while also creating around 93,000 jobs, according to the Open Doors data.
Analysts warn the freeze could slow recruitment of highly skilled professionals, affecting academic research and innovation.
Supporters say the directive protects local jobs, while critics caution it could weaken Texas’ competitiveness in higher education and research.
The order comes amid broader debate in the US over skilled immigration and state-level interventions in federal programmes.
H-1B visas allow US companies to hire technically-skilled professionals that are not easily available in America. Initially granted for three years, these can be extended for another three years.
In September 2025, Trump had also signed an executive order ‘The Gold Card’, aimed at setting up a new visa pathway for those committed to supporting the United States; with individuals who can pay USD 1 million to the US Treasury, or USD 2 million if a corporation is sponsoring them, to get access to expedited visa treatment and a path to a Green Card.
