Global wellness and luxury-goods MLM · Hong Kong parent with an India sub-franchisee structure

QNET Ltd

Name: QNET Review 2026: Grade D, Real Products vs a Live Enforcement File
Item: QNET Ltd, a Hong Kong-incorporated direct-selling company (parent: QI Group of Companies); operating in India through its independently incorporated licensed sub-franchisee, Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Private Limited, Bengaluru, Karnataka
Rating: 4.435
Author: Claude AI

A decades-old, Manchester City-sponsoring direct seller with a genuine 2017 Indian court win on the money-circulation question, a live enforcement file against its India franchisee, and no income disclosure of any kind.

Reviewed September 14, 2026 Founded 8 September 1998, by Vijay Eswaran, Joseph Bismark and a small group, per QNET’s own history; Eswaran has said the business was conceived in the Philippines and then set up in Hong Kong (Leaders, 2018). In India its earlier operations ran as GoldQuest and QuestNet (Moneylife). QI Group, the parent, dates from the same year. Confidence: Medium

DGRADE

4.4_/10

Weighted composite

REAL BUSINESS, UNRESOLVED ENFORCEMENT PATTERN

A real product company with genuine sponsorships and one substantive Indian court win sits alongside an unusually large, current, multi-country enforcement file that the company has never fully resolved.

Can you earn?Summary What it is Who runs it Legality Comp plan Your money Odds of profit Traffic Flags Do it yourself The better trade Scorecard Sources

The question you came with

Can you actually make money with QNET?

NO No - not on the numbers this company publishes

No. QNET publishes nothing on what its distributors earn. There is no income disclosure statement, just a legal "Earnings and Income Disclaimer" with no average, no median and no share of people who made a profit. The price of getting in is unpublished as well. The one payout figure QNET ever put out, a 2015 claim that it would pay out "up to 50 percent" of sales, came with an earlier version of the plan, and the current plan states no ratio. With both the cost and the outcome left blank, the numbers cannot support a yes.

On paper the plan pays on product volume, and its clause 07(d) says commissions come from product sales, not from bringing in people. Step Commission pays a Bronze Star $200 for each 3,000 BV on the weaker of two legs, rising to $325 a step at Blue Diamond Star, with every sixth step paid as 10 eVoucher Points of product credit instead of cash. A full cycle needs 18,000 BV on that weaker leg and pays $1,000 in cash at Bronze Star (our arithmetic: five steps of $200). Repeat Sales Commission converts 10,000 RSP to US$300.

Joining means buying a Distributorship Package, and bundled inside it is a first-year Annual Distributorship Fee that is non-refundable and falls due again each year. No QNET document gives a price for either, though the India site run by Vihaan states that distributors pay it no registration fee. Before any Step Commission, a distributor needs 500 BV to qualify, then 500 BV on both sides to activate. Staying Active for Repeat Sales Commission takes 50 Personal RSP a month, earned by buying for yourself or selling at retail; fall short and the downline RSP for that month is lost.

The fair side is substantial. QNET has shipped real products since 1998, from KENT co-branded water purifiers to watches, and has sponsored Manchester City FC since 2014. The monthly 50 RSP can be met with retail sales rather than personal buying, and it gates only Repeat Sales Commission. The written rules ban income claims and investment framing. And in 2017 a Karnataka High Court order found, prima facie, that what QNET and Vihaan do is not a money circulation scheme as India's 1978 Act defines one.

What it costs to be in

Not published - the Policies & Procedures require a Distributorship Package that includes the first year’s Annual Distributorship Fee, but state no price

QNET’s Policies & Procedures (October 2025) make buying a Distributorship Package, which includes the first year’s non-refundable Annual Distributorship Fee, a condition of joining, and the fee is due again each year to renew; neither the P&P nor QNET’s public product pages state a price. QNET’s India site, run by Vihaan, states that it does not charge registration fees to distributors. Earning Step Commission also requires qualifying with 500 BV from your own purchases or retail sales and activating with 500 BV on each side.

What would have to change

A real income disclosure statement: average and median earnings, the share of distributors paid anything, and a clear split between active and enrolled. QNET offers only a disclaimer today, so the $200 to $325 step values cannot be set against what distributors actually receive.
A published price for the Distributorship Package and the yearly Annual Distributorship Fee in each market, shown before anyone signs. The Policies & Procedures make both mandatory and give neither a figure, so the cost of joining and of renewing is unknown in advance.
Published point values for every product, stating the BV and RSP each item carries and what one RSP is worth in money. Without them, nobody can say what 3,000 BV on a leg, or 50 Personal RSP each month, costs in dollars or rupees.
A stated payout ratio for the current plan and a breakdown of where commissions land by rank. The only ratio on record is the 2015 "up to 50 percent" claim from an earlier version of the plan, while the weekly Step Commission cap climbs from $6,800 at Bronze Star to $24,375 at Blue Diamond Star.

That call is computed, not chosen - the rule reads three of the nine published dimension scores and is printed on the methodology page. It describes this company's plan and the figures it publishes about the people already in it. It is not a prediction about you, and nothing on this site is advice.

No IDS

No income disclosure statement exists

only a legal "Earnings and Income Disclaimer" was located, despite decades of scale and DSA/WFDSA membership

$200

First Step Commission for a new Bronze Star

paid after 3,000 BV on the weaker leg; a six-step cycle pays $1,000 plus 10 eVoucher Points (plan Schedule 1)

50 RSP

Personal Repeat Sales Points needed every month to stay Active

from your own purchases or retail sales; missing it forfeits that month’s downline RSP (plan clause 11)

2017

Karnataka High Court quashed a chargesheet as against one QNET executive

holding, prima facie, that QNET and Vihaan’s activities are not a money circulation scheme under the 1978 Act

Legal status

CONTESTED - no conviction of QNET Ltd, its India franchisee Vihaan or either founder was located in any jurisdiction. A 15 February 2017 Karnataka High Court order (Criminal Petition No. 9308/2016) quashed a chargesheet as against one petitioner, a QNET executive, holding prima facie that the activities of QNET and Vihaan are not a "Money Circulation Scheme" under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. In India, per Moneylife: the Mumbai EOW registered a cheating case in 2013 on an FIR, a registered complaint, that named five accused including co-founder Vijay Eswaran, and froze ₹45 crore in two bank accounts; in 2016 the Bombay High Court refused to quash that FIR and directed five accused to surrender; the Enforcement Directorate registered a money-laundering case in 2014 naming QNet Ltd, Vihaan, Vijay Eswaran and three independent representatives, attached more than ₹150 crore of property of Gold Quest International in 2017, and froze 36 bank accounts holding more than ₹90 crore in January 2023; and the Registrar of Companies filed a winding-up petition against Vihaan in 2019; Lawyer Herald reports that the petition was withdrawn. The Central Consumer Protection Authority issued Vihaan a notice in December 2024, and Hyderabad police arrested 32 people in four new cases against Vihaan in March 2026 (ETV Bharat; ANI via Asianet Newsable). No final verdict or order in these Indian matters was located. Courts in Thiès, Senegal convicted individual network agents of fraud in 2025 and 2026 (Seneweb).

Confidence: Medium

Primary sources fetched directly where possible. Everything we could not verify is listed at the bottom of this page by name.

What this actually is

Follow the money

A Hong Kong-incorporated direct-selling company, founded in 1998 and known in India by the earlier names GoldQuest and QuestNet, selling a genuinely diversified physical-product catalog - Kent-co-branded water purifiers, Amezcua wellness/energy pendants, Bernhard H. Mayer Swiss-branded watches, personal care and skincare, and QVI Club holiday products - through independently incorporated national franchisees, the largest and most legally active of which is Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Private Limited.

What is real and should be said first: decades of continuous operation with shippable products, not a bare recruitment shell; genuine, sustained, top-tier sports sponsorships (Official Direct Selling Partner of Manchester City FC since 2014); a university founded with a state government (Quest International University, set up with Malaysia’s Perak state government in 2011) under the same QI Group parent; membership of the Direct Selling Association of Malaysia, confirmed by that association’s own listing; and a real judicial win - the Karnataka High Court’s 2017 order quashing a chargesheet against a QNET executive, which held prima facie that QNET and Vihaan’s activities are not a money-circulation scheme.

Against that, an unusually large and currently active enforcement file, concentrated in India but reaching several other countries, that has continued generating fresh criminal cases for more than a decade.

No entry price is published, a non-refundable distributorship fee is due every year, earning Repeat Sales Commission requires 50 Personal RSP a month from purchases or retail sales, and no income disclosure statement of any kind has ever been located - only a legal earnings disclaimer.

The compensation plan itself, as currently written, is an ordinary retail/repeat-sales/rank-ladder MLM structure without a Howey-type promised return baked into the paper design - a genuinely important distinction this report keeps separate from the securities-adjacent language used by regulators describing field-level conduct.

QNET’s 2015 claimed maximum payout ratio on a $100 product sale

Built from the one payout figure QNET has put into circulation: its 2015 press release launching the Q10 plan said QNET "will pay up to 50 percent of sales in commissions," with "10 ways to earn." That plan was enhanced from 22 July 2017; the current plan (Appendix 1 to the Policies & Procedures, October 2025) lists seven kinds of commission and bonus and states no payout ratio, and QNET does not publish how payouts divide between Retail Profit, Repeat Sales Commission and Step Commission or across the rank ladder.

Retained by the company and cost of goods, per QNET’s own "up to 50%" ceiling claimPaid out in commissions across the entire IR network, per QNET’s own claim (distribution by rank not disclosed)

Product	Price	Pays
HomePure Nova (water purifier) Listed on QNET’s Home and Living page alongside the HomePure Viva, Zayn and Rayn.	Not shown on QNET’s public product pages one-time purchase	Retail Profit, BV toward Step Commission and RSP toward Repeat Sales Commission (point values unpublished)
KENT-QNET SMART Alkaline-Mineral RO water purifier (India) Co-branded by KENT and QNET India; the product page describes reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, ultraviolet and alkaline stages with pH of 8 or more.	₹39,340 maximum retail price on the Vihaan India price list effective 31 July 2025 one-time purchase	Retail Profit, BV and RSP (point values unpublished)
Amezcua wellness line (Chi Pendant, Bio Disc, Bio Light, E-Guard X and others) Marketed by QNET as "non-invasive energy innovations" that "energise and harmonise" the body; the product page cites no clinical study.	₹64,350 for a Chi Pendant 4 duo pack on the Vihaan India price list effective 31 July 2025; other items not priced there one-time purchase	Retail Profit, BV and RSP (point values unpublished)
Bernhard H. Mayer watches (Mecanique, Interra and other collections) QNET presents the brand as Swiss-made watchmaking with a heritage dating to 1871.	Not shown on QNET’s public product pages one-time purchase	Retail Profit, BV and RSP (point values unpublished)
Physio Radiance (skincare line) Listed on QNET’s Personal Care and Beauty page.	₹69,500 for the Visage+ facial device on the Vihaan India price list effective 31 July 2025 one-time or repeat purchase	Retail Profit, BV and RSP (point values unpublished)
QVI holiday products (QVI Club, QVI Breaks, QVI Tripsavr) Listed on QNET’s Holidays page.	Not shown on QNET’s public product pages package purchase	unpublished
Monthly 50 Personal RSP Earned from your own purchases or retail sales of RSP-carrying products; missing it forfeits that month’s downline RSP (plan clause 11, item 9).	Dollar value not stated in the plan monthly	keeps a distributor Active for Repeat Sales Commission, paid at 10,000 RSP to US$300

Background check

Who runs it, and what they ran before

Vijay Eswaran

Co-founder and Executive Chairman, QI Group

Studied accounting and management in the UK and worked as an information-systems engineer, including at IBM in North America, before starting in 1998 the Philippine direct-selling network that became QNET (Leaders, 2018). Launched his first book, In the Sphere of Silence, in 2004 (QNET); Leaders reported in 2018 that it had sold half a million copies. Founded the RYTHM Foundation in 2005 and Quest International University, with the Perak state government, in 2011 (Leaders).

Joseph Bismark

Co-founder

Co-founded QNET with Vijay Eswaran on 8 September 1998, per QNET’s own history, and represented the RYTHM Foundation in 2005 (QNET). No criminal or regulatory action naming him individually was located.

Governance note

The two-entity structure this report treats as load-bearing

QNET Ltd (Hong Kong) is the brand owner and global compensation-plan licensor; Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Private Limited is a separately incorporated Indian company operating under license, not a subsidiary or branch. This is standard, lawful international-franchise practice, and it is also the structural reason most India-specific criminal and regulatory liability below attaches formally to Vihaan rather than to the Hong Kong parent. The corporate design is lawful, and it has not fully insulated the QNET brand from India’s enforcement agencies.

Registered address

Hong Kong (QNET Ltd, the brand-owning direct-selling subsidiary); QI Group maintains regional offices across Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines
QNET Ltd licenses its business model to independently incorporated national franchisees rather than operating every market directly. In India - by far the largest source of the enforcement file below - the licensed operator is Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Private Limited, registered in Karnataka (CIN referenced as U52399KA2011PTC060730 in company-registry aggregator listings), headquartered in Bengaluru. Vihaan is a separately incorporated Indian private company, not a branch office of the Hong Kong parent, and most of the India-specific matters in this report name Vihaan rather than the Hong Kong parent. QI Group’s wider portfolio (education, hospitality, luxury goods) has no located public audited financial statements; it is a private conglomerate.

Legality

The veteran's checklist

Eight questions that decide whether this is a business or a transfer mechanism. Same eight, every review.

Question	Answer
Who legally owns it?	WATCH QNET Ltd, a Hong Kong-incorporated company under the QI Group conglomerate, licenses its brand and compensation plan to independently incorporated national franchisees. Its Indian operator, Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Private Limited, is a separately incorporated company, not a branch of the Hong Kong parent.
What does it really cost?	CONCERN Not published. Joining requires a Distributorship Package that includes the first year’s non-refundable Annual Distributorship Fee, renewed every year, but no saved QNET document states a price; earning Repeat Sales Commission also requires 50 Personal RSP a month from your own purchases or retail sales.
Published income disclosure?	CONCERN No. QNET publishes an "Earnings and Income Disclaimer" - a legal disclaimer, not a statistical disclosure - with no average, median or percentage-profitable figure of any kind.
Regulatory or legal action against the company, ever?	RED Yes, extensively: criminal, money-laundering, company-law and consumer-protection proceedings in India, mostly against the franchisee Vihaan, and bans or warnings in four other countries. No conviction of the corporate entity was located.
Can the company change the deal after you sign?	WATCH Yes. QNET may replace or amend the compensation plan’s schedules at its sole discretion after reasonable notice on its website (plan clause 7.05), and disputes go to a single arbitrator at the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre under Hong Kong law, after 60 days of attempted settlement (P&P 13.08 and 13.09). Distributors must also join their country’s local plan where one exists (P&P 3.01).
Can you get your money back?	WATCH Partly. QNET will repurchase currently marketable promotional materials and Starter Kits from a departing distributor at cost less a 10% handling charge, returned to Hong Kong at the distributor’s cost (P&P 3.02); products follow the return policy in QNET’s General Terms and Conditions, which were not saved for this report; and the Annual Distributorship Fee is non-refundable.
What does the compensation structure actually pay on?	WATCH Retail profit margin, Repeat Sales Commission tied to actual repurchase points, and Step Commission tied to a two-leg placement tree - commissions on real product movement, not a promised return on a static position, per the current written plan.
Merchant play or miner play?	CONCERN A genuine merchant of real, diversified physical products - but with no prices on its global product pages, a yearly non-refundable fee and a monthly purchase-or-sale condition for Repeat Sales Commission, which pushes the realistic participant economics toward the miner end of the spectrum despite the real underlying products.

Compensation plan

What has to be true for you to get paid

To cover	You need
A new distributor’s first Step Commission	Qualify (500 BV) and activate (500 BV on each side), then 3,000 BV on the lower-volume leg pays a Bronze Star $200: under the Early Payout Option, $50 for the first 1,000 BV if reached within 4 weeks of registration, $50 for the second within 6 weeks, and $100 for the third (Schedule 2), but only if activation came from two qualified direct referrals; the Distributorship Package price is not published, so whether $200 covers it cannot be stated.
One full six-step cycle as a Bronze Star	18,000 BV on the lower-volume leg (six steps of 3,000 BV; our arithmetic) pays five steps of $200, $1,000 in cash, plus 10 eVoucher Points on the sixth step that can only be redeemed for products (Schedule 1); at Blue Diamond Star the same cycle pays $1,625 (our arithmetic).
$100 a month of Repeat Sales Commission	about 3,334 RSP from your own and downline repeat sales (our arithmetic at 10,000 RSP to US$300) plus 50 Personal RSP of your own each month to stay Active; the plan gives no dollar price for an RSP, so the spending behind 3,334 RSP cannot be stated.
Keeping the distributorship	the non-refundable Annual Distributorship Fee every year, due on or before the anniversary date with a 30-day grace period the fee is not published; a distributor who does not renew loses distributor rights, can be charged a monthly maintenance fee on any Q Account balance, and may forfeit a balance left for seven years or more (P&P 4.03 and 4.04).

Read this twice

All four rows come from QNET’s own compensation plan (Appendix 1 to the Policies & Procedures, October 2025); the arithmetic is ours where marked. The largest unknown is the price of entry: the Distributorship Package and the yearly fee are required but not priced in any saved QNET document, and point values are not published anywhere, while product prices are published only for India, as maximum retail prices on the Vihaan list effective 31 July 2025, so no all-in break-even figure is stated here.

Run your own numbers

Drag the sliders. Nothing here is stored or sent.

New cycles per month 0

Your monthly ad spend $0

Months from now 12

Cumulative net, after costs

Total completed 6-step Step Commission cycles at Bronze Star -

Commission that month -

Total commissions earned -

Total you paid in -

Net -

QNET does not publish a per-product or per-customer commission rate, so this slider uses the one fixed figure its compensation plan (Appendix 1 to the Policies & Procedures, October 2025) does state: a Step Commission cycle is six steps of 3,000 BV each on the lower-volume leg, and a Bronze Star, the first paid rank, earns $200 on each of the first five steps and 10 eVoucher Points (product credit, not cash) on the sixth, $1,000 a cycle; higher ranks earn up to $325 a step. One cycle needs 18,000 BV on your weaker leg (our arithmetic), which is why the realistic preset starts at zero. The cost line is zero because QNET publishes no figure for the two recurring costs: the non-refundable Annual Distributorship Fee and the 50 Personal RSP a month, from your own purchases or retail sales, that keeps you Active for Repeat Sales Commission. Retail Profit and Repeat Sales Commission are excluded because product prices and point values are not published. Your own subscription cost of $0/mo is included.

Your money

What it costs to replace this yourself

The product categories QNET sells, set against ordinary retail alternatives. QNET’s global product pages show no prices; where the price list QNET India links (Vihaan, effective 31 July 2025) gives one, it is shown, but no market price was saved for this report, so no cost gap is stated here.

What they sell you	What you'd use instead	Your cost
KENT-QNET SMART Alkaline-Mineral RO purifier (₹39,340 maximum retail price, India price list, July 2025)	A standard RO, UV and UF purifier bought at ordinary retail, with no joining requirement	not priced from a saved source
HomePure Nova purifier (price not published)	An ordinary-retail RO or alkaline purifier	not priced from a saved source
Amezcua Chi Pendant 4 (₹64,350 for a duo pack, India price list, July 2025)	Ordinary pendant jewelry with no health claim	not priced from a saved source
Amezcua Bio Disc and other energy products	No priced equivalent: QNET cites no clinical study for the energy claim	N/A - the alternative is no purchase
Bernhard H. Mayer watch (price not published)	A mass-market automatic watch from an ordinary retailer	not priced from a saved source
Physio Radiance Visage+ facial device (₹69,500, India price list, July 2025)	A drugstore skincare routine	not priced from a saved source
Total as sold QNET’s global product pages give no prices, and the price list QNET India links covers only some of these products, so no total is stated	Total, built yourself ordinary-retail alternatives exist in every category except the energy products; none is priced here from a saved source

Price-to-value

No full price comparison can be made: QNET’s global pages list products without prices, and no market price was saved for this report. The saved price evidence: the price list QNET India links (Vihaan, July 2025) puts its KENT purifier at ₹39,340 and Chairos watches at ₹35,800 to ₹1,28,000. For the Amezcua energy products there is no priced substitute, because QNET cites no clinical study for the claim; the fair comparison there is no purchase at all.

Odds of profit

Three operators, five horizons

Probability of cumulative net profit

Hover any point for median, top decile and bottom quartile.

The Retail-Only Hobbyist - buys a Distributorship Package plus one Amezcua item and sells casually to friends and family; illustrative assumptions, not built on any saved price - not a QNET-published case studyThe Small-Team Builder - buys a starter pack plus a KENT-QNET RO purifier and recruits a handful of distributors in year one, illustrative assumptions around the plan’s $1,000 Bronze Star cycle - not a QNET-published case studyThe Watch-Line Aspirant Chasing Rank - buys a starter pack plus a high-end Bernhard H. Mayer watch and pursues mid-tier rank, illustrative assumptions, not built on any saved price - not a QNET-published case study

The Retail-Only Hobbyist

buys a Distributorship Package plus one Amezcua item and sells casually to friends and family; illustrative assumptions, not built on any saved price - not a QNET-published case study

Horizon	P(profit)	Median
3 mo	40%	-$500
6 mo	30%	-$550
1 yr	22%	-$500
3 yr	12%	-$400
5 yr	8%	-$300

The Small-Team Builder

buys a starter pack plus a KENT-QNET RO purifier and recruits a handful of distributors in year one, illustrative assumptions around the plan’s $1,000 Bronze Star cycle - not a QNET-published case study

Horizon	P(profit)	Median
3 mo	15%	-$800
6 mo	12%	-$400
1 yr	9%	$0
3 yr	5%	$300
5 yr	3%	$500

The Watch-Line Aspirant Chasing Rank

buys a starter pack plus a high-end Bernhard H. Mayer watch and pursues mid-tier rank, illustrative assumptions, not built on any saved price - not a QNET-published case study

Horizon	P(profit)	Median
3 mo	4%	-$3,200
6 mo	3%	-$3,000
1 yr	2%	-$2,800
3 yr	1%	-$1,500
5 yr	0.5%	-$800

Methodology note. These are illustrative outcome ranges built on our own assumptions, not claims and not a QNET-published case study - QNET publishes no percentile- or cohort-based earnings table, no prices on its global product pages and no point values. The plan figures they lean on come from QNET’s compensation plan (October 2025): $200 to $325 a Step Commission step by rank, 3,000 BV a step, and 50 Personal RSP a month to stay Active for Repeat Sales Commission. The declining "p" values reflect assumed attrition, not a QNET-published retention figure.

Go-to-market

Where you are actually allowed to promote this

Platform policy reads, not verifications. Check every one before you spend a dollar - enforcement changes faster than the written policy does.

Channel

Status

Notes

Income and "get rich quick" claims to prospects

PROHIBITED IN WRITING

QNET’s Policies & Procedures bar distributors from making past, potential or actual income claims and from using their own or others’ incomes as an indication of assured success, and its Code of Ethics bars presenting the business as an investment or a ‘get-rich-quick’ scheme.

Field-level income and health-claim conduct in practice

RECURRING ALLEGATIONS ACROSS A DECADE-PLUS

Despite the written ban, police and complainants in India have alleged health-claim selling and job-pretext recruitment for more than a decade - a persistent gap between policy and field practice, at the allegation stage.

Distributor self-identification and use of QNET trademarks on social media

GOVERNED BY WRITTEN POLICY

The Social Media Policy requires distributors to identify as "Independent Distributor," bars incorporating QNET trademarks into usernames or handles, and requires testimonials to be truthful and supported as "typical results," treating an unsupported "non-typical" claim as a policy violation.

Monthly 50 Personal RSP to stay Active for Repeat Sales Commission

MANDATORY FOR RSC

The plan requires 50 Personal RSP a month, from your own purchases or retail sales, to stay Active and earn Repeat Sales Commission; missing it forfeits that month’s downline RSP. From Gold Star up, the same 50 Personal RSP is also a monthly rank-maintenance requirement, and rank sets the pay per Step Commission step.

Recruitment and event/seminar culture

ACTIVE; ATTENDANCE REQUIRED AT TOP RANKS

The plan requires distributors at Platinum Star and above to attend at least two company events, such as the V Convention, or risk demotion by two ranks; QNET says 15,000 attended its 2019 V-Convention. Moneylife reported in 2019 that Cyberabad police had issued notices to several Bollywood actors for taking part in QNet programs.

Distributorship Package price disclosure to a prospect before joining

NOT PUBLISHED

The Policies & Procedures require buying a Distributorship Package that includes the first year’s non-refundable Annual Distributorship Fee, but neither they nor QNET’s public pages state a price - a basic pre-purchase transparency gap.

DSA/WFDSA code-of-ethics membership obligations

MEMBER (MALAYSIA CONFIRMED BY THE ASSOCIATION)

The Direct Selling Association of Malaysia lists QNet (M) Sdn Bhd as a member, and QNET says that membership dates to 2010; QNET also lists itself as a member of the associations of Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia (AP2LI) and Turkey, which it says hold members to the WFDSA Code of Ethics.

The evidence

Red flags and green flags

Red flags

1Fresh criminal arrests as recently as March 2026

Hyderabad police arrested 32 people on 23 March 2026 in raids across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, in four new cases against Vihaan that police describe as an illegal money circulation scheme under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978 (ETV Bharat; ANI via Asianet Newsable). Arrests are not convictions; this enforcement file is current, not historical.

2No income disclosure statement exists

Only a legal "Earnings and Income Disclaimer" was located across every country portal searched - no average, median, or percentage-profitable figure of any kind, despite decades of scale and Direct Selling Association membership that typically encourages such transparency.

3No entry price is published

The Policies & Procedures require a Distributorship Package and a yearly non-refundable fee but give no price for either, and neither QNET’s public pages nor the price list QNET India links states one - a basic transparency failure for a prospect trying to know total cost before joining.

4Authorities in four countries outside India have banned the business or called it a pyramid scheme

Bhutan’s consumer-protection office banned it as a pyramid scheme in 2022 (The Bhutanese); Sri Lanka’s central bank lists "Qnet/ Questnet" among prohibited schemes (Ada Derana, July 2026); Indonesia’s investment alert task force said in 2019 that it was suspected of using a pyramid scheme (CNBC Indonesia); and Nepal’s Home Ministry banned it in 2003 (The Kathmandu Post). QNET denied the Indonesian characterization (Detik).

5India’s Enforcement Directorate has pursued money-laundering cases against QNET-linked companies since 2014

Moneylife reports the February 2014 case registration naming QNet Ltd and Vihaan, the 2017 attachment of more than ₹150 crore of property of Gold Quest International, which it calls QNET’s previous avatar, and the January 2023 freezing of 36 bank accounts holding more than ₹90 crore connected to Vihaan. No money-laundering conviction was located.

6Mainstream logistics providers stopped carrying the India franchisee’s parcels

India Post and Blue Dart stopped parcel services to Vihaan in early 2024 after a Registrar-of-Companies letter cited criminal cases against it (Moneylife, March 2024) - a commercial vote of no confidence from neutral third parties, separate from any court.

7The Registrar of Companies petitioned to wind up Vihaan

In 2019 the Registrar of Companies, after inspecting Vihaan’s books, filed a winding-up petition before the NCLT in Bengaluru, and lookout circulars were issued against 12 people associated with the company (Moneylife). Lawyer Herald reported in April 2026 that the NCLT matter was disposed of as withdrawn.

8Individual QNET-network agents have been convicted

Courts in Thiès, Senegal convicted two agents of defrauding a student (one year in prison for one, a suspended sentence and fine for the other; Seneweb, November 2025) and seven people of fraud (six months suspended each, acquitted of criminal conspiracy; Seneweb, June 2026). No conviction of the corporate entity was located.

9The founding gold-coin line was treated as a pyramid or cheating scheme

Bhutan’s Royal Monetary Authority banned the GoldQuest gold-coin scheme in 2003 as a pyramid scheme (The Bhutanese), and Tamil Nadu police registered a case in 2009 against Gold Quest International over gold coins sold at exorbitant prices as limited editions with numismatic value (Moneylife) - relevant to the sec dimension even though the current product mix has diversified.

10A monthly purchase-or-sale condition is needed to keep earning Repeat Sales Commission

The plan requires 50 Personal RSP a month, from your own purchases or retail sales, to stay Active; missing it forfeits that month’s downline RSP - a mechanic that can make personal buying the price of staying paid.

11Field-level health-claim allegations recur despite a written ban

The 2013 Mumbai EOW case, as Moneylife reported it, alleged that representatives sold "plastic and glass products" as treatments for diseases including cancer - an allegation, not a finding, of exactly the conduct the written policy bans.

Green flags

1Decades of continuous operation with real, shippable physical products

Since 1998, across multiple confirmed categories - water purifiers, wellness devices, watches, personal care - rather than a purely digital or recruitment-only offering.

2Genuine, long-running, top-tier sports sponsorships

Official Direct Selling Partner of Manchester City FC since 2014 and Manchester City Women’s FC since 2018, plus CAF competition sponsorship - a sustained, high-visibility marketing investment inconsistent with a fly-by-night operation.

3A university founded with a state government under the same parent group

Quest International University in Malaysia, established in 2011 in partnership with the Perak state government (Leaders, 2018) - a non-MLM institutional asset.

4A specific judicial win in its largest single market

The Karnataka High Court’s 15 February 2017 order quashed a chargesheet as against a QNET executive and held, prima facie, that the activities of QNET and Vihaan are not a money circulation scheme or prize chit under India’s 1978 Act - a real legal determination, though on one petition.

5Direct Selling Association membership

The Direct Selling Association of Malaysia lists QNet (M) Sdn Bhd as a member, and QNET says that membership dates to 2010; QNET also lists memberships in Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Turkey.

6A written, correctly drafted compliance framework exists on paper

Policies & Procedures, a Code of Ethics and a Social Media Policy that explicitly ban income guarantees, get-rich-quick framing and investment-style claims - the right rules exist, whatever field enforcement has or has not achieved.

7A diversified, real corporate parent beyond direct selling

QI Group lists business lines in education, hospitality, luxury goods, property and logistics alongside QNET (Leaders, 2018), reducing - though not eliminating - dependence on recruitment-driven cash flow alone.

8Mainstream co-branding with an established non-MLM Indian appliance manufacturer

The Kent-QNET water-purifier line is a real commercial partnership with a company outside the MLM industry, imposing at least some external brand-reputation discipline on product quality.

What would move this grade

We would like to be wrong about this

Upward

Publication of a genuine, audited income disclosure statement with average and median figures, an active-versus-total participant definition, and a stated methodology.
A confirmed, transparent, single global or clearly country-by-country Distributorship Package and annual fee price published prominently before purchase.
A sustained multi-year period - three years or more - with no fresh criminal arrests tied to the India franchisee.

Downward

A criminal conviction of the corporate entity itself - QNET Ltd or Vihaan - as opposed to individual agents, in any jurisdiction.
A money-laundering conviction, or a winding-up order, against Vihaan.
A confirmed CCPA finding of unfair trade practice, or a fine, against Vihaan.

The better trade

Grade is D. A real, decades-old operating company with genuine products, sponsorships and one substantive legal win coexists with an unusually large and currently active enforcement file that the company has never fully resolved.

What is genuinely real here should be said first. QNET is not a bare recruitment shell: it has sold shippable physical products continuously since 1998, sustains a Premier League-level sponsorship (Manchester City FC, since 2014) that a fraud operation would be unlikely to fund for over a decade, and its parent group runs a university founded with a Malaysian state government. Its founders are published and publicly documented, not anonymous. And in its largest single market, the Karnataka High Court held in 2017, prima facie, that the activities of QNET and Vihaan are not a money-circulation scheme under India’s 1978 Act - a real legal win, if on one petition.

That legal win, however, quashed one chargesheet as against one petitioner, and it has not stopped fresh criminal cases from being filed against the same India franchisee, Vihaan, by different police forces in different states in the years since. The file reaches well beyond India, and no conviction of the corporate entity was located anywhere, but the pattern is current, large and geographically wide, not a closed historical chapter.

The economics compound the legal picture. No entry price is published, a non-refundable fee is due every year, earning Repeat Sales Commission requires 50 Personal RSP a month, no income disclosure statement of any kind has ever been published, and QNET’s global product pages show no prices, while the price list QNET India links puts its KENT purifier at ₹39,340. A written policy correctly bans income and health claims, but allegations of exactly that conduct in the field have recurred for over a decade. Taken together, the nine scored dimensions already reflect this record without needing an additional cap: a real company, with a real and unresolved problem.

Do not treat the 2017 Karnataka HC ruling as a blanket clearance

It quashed one chargesheet as against one petitioner, a QNET executive; it has not stopped fresh criminal cases from being filed against the same India franchisee in different states.

Get the actual starter-pack price in writing before paying anything

QNET requires a Distributorship Package and a yearly fee but publishes no price for either; ask for both directly and in writing, and treat a reluctance to provide them as itself informative.

Price the monthly 50 Personal RSP into any return calculation

The plan requires 50 Personal RSP a month from your own purchases or retail sales to stay Active for Repeat Sales Commission - model your own share of it as a recurring cost against any expected commission, not as an optional extra.

If buying the product, compare it against the ordinary-retail equivalent first

QNET’s global product pages show no prices and the price list QNET India links gives only maximum retail prices, so get the price in writing and check it against an ordinary retailer before buying; buy only at a price you would pay knowing that.

A genuine 2017 Indian court win on the money-circulation question and a live enforcement file against the same franchisee are both true at once.

Scorecard

Nine dimensions, weighted

Comp structure & KoscotDoes the plan pay for recruitment or for sales to real customers?

20%

4.5

QNET’s plan, set out in Appendix 1 to its Policies & Procedures (October 2025), pays on product volume rather than on recruitment in its written form: clause 07(d) states that all commissions are based on the sale of products, not the introduction of persons. Retail Profit is the margin between retail and distributor price; Repeat Sales Commission converts Repeat Sales Points at 10,000 RSP to US$300, from up to ten pay levels depending on rank; and Step Commission is paid on a two-leg placement tree, one step for every 3,000 BV on the lower-volume leg, at $200 a step for a Bronze Star rising to $325 for a Blue Diamond Star, with 10 eVoucher Points (product credit) in place of cash on every sixth step. A six-step cycle therefore pays $1,000 to $1,625 and needs 18,000 BV on the weaker leg (our arithmetic). The Early Payout Option, which pays a new Bronze Star its first $200 step in parts ($50, $50 and $100), applies only to a distributor activated by two qualified direct referrals, not one who self-activates (7.03), and Silver Star requires three qualified direct referrals with 500 BV each or two with 1,000 BV each (Schedule 3). To stay Active for Repeat Sales Commission a distributor needs 50 Personal RSP a month from personal purchases or retail sales; missing it forfeits that month’s downline RSP. The ladder runs from ID through Bronze, Silver, Gold, Sapphire, Platinum, Diamond and Blue Diamond Star, and both the weekly Step Commission cap per tracking center ($6,800 at Bronze Star, $24,375 at Blue Diamond Star) and the number of RSP pay levels (5 to 10) rise with rank, the usual MLM skew toward the top. The score reflects a standard two-leg MLM plan with a monthly purchase-or-sale condition, not a uniquely predatory design and not a clean one either.

Securities exposureAny passive return on capital? Howey, staking, tokens, withdrawal friction.

15%

7.5

On the current, as-designed global compensation plan, Howey-type investment exposure is genuinely low: commissions are tied to actual product movement - repeat-sales points from real repurchases, retail markup, and rank-qualifying business volume - not to a promised rate of return on a static "position," and nothing in QNET’s written plan describes a product marketed with a stated or implied payout independent of retail resale or personal use. That is why this dimension scores well above the floor rather than at zero. It is docked from a perfect 10 for two specific, evidence-based reasons that must both be said. First, the gold-coin line sold under the GoldQuest name was banned as a pyramid scheme by Bhutan’s Royal Monetary Authority in 2003 (The Bhutanese), and in 2009 Tamil Nadu police registered a case against Gold Quest International over gold coins sold at exorbitant prices as limited editions with numismatic value (Moneylife). Second, the pattern has recurred well beyond that product: authorities in India (Hyderabad police), Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bhutan have each described the business as a pyramid or money-circulation scheme, and Nepal’s Home Ministry banned it in 2003, even though the Karnataka High Court held prima facie in 2017 that the activities of QNET and Vihaan are not a money circulation scheme under India’s 1978 Act. Both things are true together - a clean paper design on capital exposure, and a real, repeated, cross-jurisdictional echo of investment-style framing at the point of sale.

Ownership & track recordWho runs it, what did they run before, and what happened to it.

15%

3.5

The founders are real and publicly documented, and that should be said plainly: Vijay Eswaran worked as an information-systems engineer, including at IBM, has published three books (Leaders reported that In the Sphere of Silence had sold half a million copies), and founded Quest International University with the Perak state government and the RYTHM Foundation, the group’s philanthropic arm (Leaders, 2018). No adverse regulatory or criminal history naming Joseph Bismark individually was located. That record keeps this score off the floor. It is held down because Vijay Eswaran carries personal legal exposure beyond the corporate entity: Moneylife reported that the 2013 Mumbai EOW FIR named him among five accused, and that in February 2014 the Enforcement Directorate named him, with QNet Ltd, Vihaan and three independent representatives, in a money-laundering case registration. No conviction of either founder was located; the score reflects that exposure at its stage, not a finding of guilt.

Product reality & demandWould a rational buyer purchase this if no income offer existed?

12%

6.0

The product line is real, diversified and shippable, and deserves credit before the price and claims problems are addressed. QNET sells home-care water purifiers co-branded with Kent, an established non-MLM Indian appliance manufacturer; Amezcua wellness/energy pendants and discs; Bernhard H. Mayer Swiss-branded watches and jewelry; personal-care and skincare lines; and QVI Club holiday products - a genuine multi-category retail catalog, not a recruitment-only shell. The company also sustains real, long-running, top-tier sports sponsorships (Manchester City FC since 2014, Manchester City Women’s FC since 2018, CAF competitions) - a level and duration of marketing investment inconsistent with a fly-by-night operation, and a real green flag in its own right. The deduction is for two things. First, QNET’s global product pages show no prices, while the price list QNET India links puts its KENT purifier at ₹39,340 and a Chi Pendant 4 duo pack at ₹64,350 (see ptv below). Second, QNET markets the Amezcua line as "non-invasive energy innovations" that "energise and harmonise" the body, and its product page cites no clinical study for that claim.

Participant economicsReal cost in, realistic money out, and whether they publish the numbers.

10%

3.0

QNET publishes no entry price. Its Policies & Procedures (October 2025) make buying a Distributorship Package, which includes the first year’s non-refundable Annual Distributorship Fee, a condition of joining and require the fee again every year to renew, but neither the P&P nor the price list QNET India links (Vihaan, effective 31 July 2025) gives a figure for either, so a prospect cannot know the cost of joining before signing up; QNET’s India site says Vihaan charges distributors no registration fee. Where India product prices are published they are maximum retail prices of ₹39,340 for the KENT purifier, ₹64,350 for a Chi Pendant 4 duo pack and ₹35,800 to ₹1,28,000 for Chairos watches, with no point values. Earning then needs product volume: 500 BV to qualify and 500 BV on each side to activate for Step Commission, and 50 Personal RSP a month, from personal purchases or retail sales, to stay Active for Repeat Sales Commission; a first Step Commission needs 3,000 BV on the weaker leg and pays a Bronze Star $200 (Schedules 1 and 2). The score sits at 3 rather than lower because the monthly condition can be met with retail sales and gates only Repeat Sales Commission, and because the plan states the cash value of each step and point; an unpublished entry price, a yearly fee and no income figures keep it near the bottom of the scale.

Price-to-valueWhat the same capability costs on the open market.

3.0

QNET’s global product pages show no prices, but QNET India links a Vihaan price list effective 31 July 2025 that gives maximum retail prices: ₹39,340 for the KENT Smart Alkaline water purifier, ₹64,350 for an Amezcua Chi Pendant 4 duo pack, ₹69,500 for a Physio Radiance Visage+ facial device, ₹35,800 to ₹1,28,000 for Chairos watches and ₹2,38,900 for a HomePure Viva purifier. No market-price comparison was saved for this report, so no item-by-item gap is stated. The saved record on markup is adverse: an inspection report by India’s Registrar of Companies, as Moneylife quoted it in 2019, found Vihaan selling a watch bought for ₹27,004 for as much as ₹1.05 lakh and another bought for ₹10,856 at ₹56,049, and described the prices as exorbitant. QNET markets its Amezcua line as "non-invasive energy innovations" and cites no clinical study for that claim, so there is no priced substitute to measure it against.

Payout sustainabilityCan the company fund the plan out of margin, or only out of inflow?

3.0

No income disclosure statement exists in the form this rubric looks for. What QNET actually publishes, on qnet.net, is a document titled "Earnings and Income Disclaimer" - a legal disclaimer stating that income examples are estimates with no guarantee and that testimonials reflect exceptional, non-typical results. It contains no average or median income figure, no percentage of distributors who are profit-positive, no active-versus-total-enrolled distinction, and no cohort or tenure breakdown. This is an affirmative finding after extensive targeted searching, not an assumption: repeated searches for a QNET income disclosure statement PDF returned no company-published statistical document. That absence is unusual for a company of QNET’s scale that lists itself as a member of Direct Selling Associations in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Turkey, which QNET itself says hold members to the WFDSA Code of Ethics. QNET’s 2015 release launching its Q10 plan said it would "pay up to 50 percent of sales in commissions"; the current plan (October 2025) states no payout ratio at all, and nothing published says how concentrated payouts are toward the top of the rank ladder.

Marketing conductIncome claims, regulator run-ins, hype, deadline stacking.

3.0

QNET’s written Policies & Procedures, Code of Ethics and Social Media Policy are correctly drafted, standard-form MLM compliance guardrails: they explicitly prohibit income guarantees, "get rich quick" claims, portraying the business as an investment, and using internal commission documentation as marketing collateral, and they require distributors to identify themselves as independent, not employees. Credit belongs there - the right rules exist on paper. The score reflects a persistent, decade-plus, multi-jurisdiction gap between that written policy and field conduct. The 2013 Mumbai EOW case, as Moneylife reported it, alleged that representatives sold "plastic and glass products" as treatments for diseases including cancer; Cyberabad police said in 2019 that promoters targeted software employees, unemployed youth and homemakers, and Hyderabad police said in March 2026 that recruiters approached unemployed youth under the pretext of part-time employment. That is not one isolated allegation - it is a recurring pattern of allegations, across different Indian states and over more than a decade, of exactly the income- and health-claim misconduct the written policy exists to prevent. The company’s policy is real; its enforcement in the field has not reliably held the line.

Operator terms & exitWho owns the customer, what you forfeit, how hard it is to leave.

3.5

The two-tier corporate structure - a Hong Kong brand-owning parent licensing an independently incorporated national franchisee - is lawful international-franchise practice, and it is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing. But it genuinely complicates accountability in practice: even India’s own sophisticated institutions - the CCPA, the Enforcement Directorate, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, and multiple state police forces (Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka) - have needed years of parallel, overlapping proceedings across at least four different bodies to pursue what is substantially the same underlying conduct. That coordination cost is a real consequence of the structure, regardless of the structure’s legality. A concrete instance: in early 2024, after a Registrar-of-Companies letter citing criminal cases against Vihaan, India Post and Blue Dart stopped carrying its parcels (Moneylife, March 2024), a third-party commercial consequence rather than merely an allegation. The contract adds its own weight: QNET may replace or amend the plan’s schedules at its sole discretion on reasonable notice posted on its website, and disputes go to a single arbitrator at the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre under Hong Kong law after 60 days of attempted settlement (P&P 7.05, 13.08 and 13.09).

Weighted composite

4.43

Dimension profile

Further from center is better. Hover any point.

Hard caps that bind here

Cap at D (non-binding) the nine scored dimensions already reflect the severity of the enforcement record - largely through owner, mktg and terms - and the composite lands at D on its own arithmetic without any additional ceiling being applied. Nothing here is holding the grade down beyond what the numbers already carry.

What would force a binding cap below D in the future a criminal conviction of the corporate entity itself - QNET Ltd or Vihaan, as distinct from individual field agents - a winding-up order against Vihaan, or a confirmed CCPA finding of unfair trade practice against it. Any of those would represent a step beyond what the current scorecard already prices in.

What the ceiling does NOT rest on not any single country’s action taken in isolation from the rest of the file.

The lowest binding cap wins, regardless of the weighted arithmetic.

Sources consulted

What we read

Every source below links to the document itself. Tier 1 is a primary record - the company’s own plan, policy or disclosure, a court filing, a regulator’s decision or an SEC filing. Tier 2 is a self-regulatory or secondary regulator record, tier 3 reporting or academic work, tier 4 an open-market price comparison. Where a document can be moved or withdrawn, an archived copy is linked beside it. If a link is dead when you try it, that is a correction we want.

Criminal Petition No. 9308 of 2016 - Karnataka High Court order quashing a chargesheet as against a QNET executive
Court recordTier 1Karnataka High Court (via Indian Kanoon) · 2017-02-15
Justice Anand Byrareddy’s 15 February 2017 order on a Section 482 petition by a Malaysia-resident QNET executive, accused no. 4 in chargesheet C.C. No. 23238/2016. It holds, prima facie, that the activities of QNet and Vihaan do not fall within "Money Circulation Scheme" or "Prize chit" under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978, finds the cheating charges not made out, and quashes the proceedings "in so far as the petitioner is concerned." The archived copy has the parties’ residential addresses removed.
Central Consumer Protection Authority issues notices to 17 direct-selling entities (press release reference)
RegulatorTier 1Press Information Bureau, Government of India · 2024-12-13
The CCPA’s 13 December 2024 release: notices to 17 direct-selling entities, including "Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Pvt. Ltd. (a sub-franchise of QNet Group, Hong Kong)," for alleged unfair trade practices, service deficiencies and violations of the Consumer Protection (Direct Selling) Rules, 2021; 13 cases under investigation and replies from three awaited, without saying which.
QNET Policies & Procedures, with Appendix 1 - Compensation Plan (last updated October 2025)
Policies & proceduresTier 1QNet Ltd · 2025-10
The current global Policies & Procedures, linked from qnet.net/compliance. Covers the Distributorship Package and non-refundable Annual Distributorship Fee (3.01, 4.03), repurchase of starter kits at cost less 10% (3.02), the income-claim bans (5.07, 11.02), Hong Kong law and HKIAC arbitration (13.08, 13.09), and the compensation plan: Step Commission of $200 to $325 a step per 3,000 BV on the lower-volume leg, 50 Personal RSP a month to stay Active, 10,000 RSP to US$300, and the company’s right to amend the schedules (7.05).
QNET Earnings and Income Disclaimer
Company documentTier 1QNET Ltd · 2026
QNET’s Earnings & Income Disclaimer: income statements are estimates with no guarantee, and testimonials are "exceptional results"; the page gives no average, median or percentage-profitable figure, so it is a legal disclaimer rather than a statistical income disclosure statement.
Thiès: seven suspected members of a QNET network sentenced by the court for flagrant offenses
ReportingTier 3Seneweb · 2026-06-06
Reports the Thiès court of summary jurisdiction acquitting seven people of criminal conspiracy, convicting them of fraud and sentencing each to six months’ imprisonment, suspended.
CAF announces QNET sponsorship of Total CAF Champions League and Total CAF Confederation Cup
Company documentTier 1Confederation of African Football (CAF) · 2018-02-24
CAF’s 24 February 2018 announcement of QNET as Official Direct Selling Partner of the Total CAF Champions League, Confederation Cup and Super Cup, a two-year partnership.
Supreme Court of India rules in favor of QNET
ReportingTier 3Business For Home · 2017-04-04
An industry outlet’s report, largely quoting QNET, that a two-judge Supreme Court bench stayed further proceedings in 19 FIRs against QNET and Vihaan and granted bail to two Vihaan shareholders - an interim order, not a merits ruling.
QNET’s decade in Indian courts: Supreme Court stay, 2025 defamation victory
ReportingTier 3Lawyer Herald · 2026-04-24
A legal-news site’s timeline, favorable to QNET: reports the 2017 Supreme Court interim stay of 19 FIRs, a January 2019 no-coercive-action direction covering more than 60 FIRs, a 2 April 2024 Bangalore civil court injunction for Vihaan against a victims’ association, and that the NCLT winding-up matter was disposed of as withdrawn. It dates the Karnataka High Court ruling to 24 February 2017; the judgment itself is dated 15 February 2017.
QNET EOW freezes Rs.45 crore in two bank accounts of the MLM
ReportingTier 3Moneylife · 2013-08-22
Reports the Mumbai EOW freezing two QNet-related bank accounts holding ₹45 crore, after registering a cheating case alleging that representatives sold "plastic and glass products" as treatments for diseases including cancer. The archived copy has reader phone numbers and email addresses removed.
QNET: Bombay HC asks five including Michael Ferreira and Suresh Thimiri to surrender
ReportingTier 3Moneylife · 2016-09-27
Reports a Bombay High Court division bench refusing to quash the FIR in the Mumbai EOW case and directing five accused to surrender, as the Supreme Court had ordered. The archived copy has reader contact details removed.
Hyderabad: 32 arrested in QNET fraud case, police conduct raids across three states
ReportingTier 3ETV Bharat · 2026-03-24
Reports Hyderabad police arresting 32 people, including 11 women, in raids across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka; 68 cases registered in the state against frauds under the guise of Vihaan, four of them new; police describe an illegal money circulation scheme.
32 arrested in massive fraud case linked to QNET franchisee
ReportingTier 3Newsable (Asianet News) · 2026-03
ANI report syndicated by Asianet Newsable on the 23 March 2026 raids in four cases registered against Vihaan at CCS Hyderabad: police say recruiters targeted software employees, housewives and unemployed youth under the pretext of part-time employment and promised ₹3 to ₹4 crore on ₹5 to ₹10 lakh.
Hyderabad Cyberabad police commissioner says no stay orders on QNET probe
ReportingTier 3Deccan Chronicle · 2019-02-26
Cyberabad’s police commissioner said in February 2019 that neither Vihaan nor QNet had secured a stay of the investigation from the Supreme Court or the Telangana High Court.
QNET Enforcement Directorate registers case against the MLM
ReportingTier 3Moneylife · 2014-02-06
Reports the February 2014 ED case registration in the "Rs425 crore QNet scam," naming QNet Ltd, its franchisee Vihaan Direct Selling, QI Group founder Vijay Eswaran and three independent representatives, with QNET calling the allegations "preposterous and completely baseless." The archived copy has a reader’s email address removed.
QNET ED freezes 36 bank accounts connected to Vihaan Direct Selling in a money-laundering case
ReportingTier 3Moneylife · 2023-01-20
Reports January 2023 ED searches in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai freezing 36 bank accounts with more than ₹90 crore connected to Vihaan. The archived copy has reader contact details removed.
QNET ED attaches assets worth Rs.150 crore of Gold Quest
ReportingTier 3Moneylife · 2017-04-06
Reports the ED attaching more than ₹150 crore of property of Chennai-based Gold Quest International, which Moneylife calls QNet’s previous avatar, in a money-circulation and cheating case, and Tamil Nadu police’s 2009 case over gold coins sold at exorbitant prices as limited editions with numismatic value. The archived copy has reader contact details removed.
QNET MCA files winding-up petition against Vihaan Direct Selling, initiates penal action
ReportingTier 3Moneylife · 2019-08-27
Reports the Registrar of Companies (Karnataka) filing a Section 271 winding-up petition against Vihaan before the NCLT Bengaluru bench after an inspection that "allegedly revealed fraudulent activities," lookout circulars against 12 people, Cyberabad police figures of about 70 arrests in 38 cases, and the inspection report’s findings on watch markups.
QNET: India Post and Blue Dart stop courier services to Vihaan Direct Selling after RoC letter
ReportingTier 3Moneylife · 2024-03-18
Reports India Post and Blue Dart stopping parcel services to Vihaan after a Registrar-of-Companies letter citing criminal cases against it.
Over 100 nabbed over illegal network business
ReportingTier 3The Kathmandu Post · 2017-06-13
Reports Nepal’s Central Investigation Bureau arresting 102 people at a QNet meeting and filing fraud cases against 14, a reported collection of Rs350,000 per member marketed with 10-year tour packages, and the Home Ministry’s 2003 ban.
OJK Satgas Waspada Investasi: QNET violates rules
ReportingTier 3CNBC Indonesia · 2019-10-31
Reports Indonesia’s investment alert task force (Satgas Waspada Investasi) saying PT Amoeba, which included PT Qnet, violated its permit, that QNet was suspected of a pyramid scheme with unreasonable returns, that recruits were lured with job offers, and that the activity was stopped; includes QNET Indonesia’s statement.
QNET denies conducting a bogus investment practice and using a Ponzi scheme
Company documentTier 3Detik Finance · 2020-12-17
QNET Indonesia’s lawyer denies that it is an investment or Ponzi scheme and says a Lumajang police criminal investigation was stopped for insufficient evidence.
CBSL issues revised list of companies engaged in prohibited pyramid schemes
ReportingTier 3Ada Derana · 2026-07-02
Reports the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s amended list of schemes determined as prohibited under Section 83C of the Banking Act, which includes "Qnet/ Questnet" - a regulatory designation, not a criminal conviction.
Many Bhutanese still losing millions to QNET despite the ban
ReportingTier 3The Bhutanese · 2024-05-18
Reports Bhutan’s Office of Consumer Protection declaring QNet a pyramid scheme and banning it on 26 August 2022, the Royal Monetary Authority’s 2003 ban of the GoldQuest gold-coin scheme, continued losses after the ban, and that QNet enters Bhutan through Vihaan.
QNET agent sentenced to prison, Thiès court
ReportingTier 3Seneweb · 2025-11-07
Reports the Thiès court convicting two QNet agents of defrauding a student of 885,000 CFA francs: one year in prison for one, six months suspended and a 100,000 CFA franc fine for the other, plus joint repayment.
What is QI Group?
Company documentTier 1QNET Ltd (India portal) · 2026
QNET India page describing QI Group as a multi-business conglomerate headquartered in Hong Kong, and Vihaan as QNET’s sub-franchisee and legal entity in India.
Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Private Limited company registry listing
Corporate registryTier 2Tofler (Indian company-registry aggregator) · 2026
Confirms Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Private Limited as a Bangalore, Karnataka company incorporated on 10 October 2011, CIN U52399KA2011PTC060730, status Active - the registry-level confirmation of the two-entity structure this report treats as central.
Not established by this document: A registry-aggregator listing, not the Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ own filing portal, though the CIN and registration details are of the kind such aggregators reproduce directly from official filings.
Vijay Eswaran career profile
ReportingTier 3Leaders Magazine · 2018-07
Leaders Magazine profile and interview: Eswaran’s UK studies, information-systems work including at IBM in North America, the 1998 start in the Philippines, Quest International University set up with the Perak state government in 2011, the RYTHM Foundation (2005), the half a million copies sold of In the Sphere of Silence, and QI Group’s regional offices and business lines.
Direct Selling Association of Malaysia: QNET (M) Sdn Bhd member portfolio
Self-regulatoryTier 2Direct Selling Association of Malaysia (DSAM) · 2026
DSAM’s own member listing for QNet (M) Sdn Bhd; QNET dates the membership to 2010.
QNET launches new global compensation plan (Q10)
Compensation planTier 1QNET Ltd (via Mynewsdesk press-release distribution) · 2015
QNET’s 2015 release launching the Q10 plan: "QNET will pay up to 50 percent of sales in commissions," with "10 ways to earn." The plan was enhanced from 22 July 2017 (P&P Appendix 1, clause 11), and the current plan states no payout ratio.
About QNET (company history, products and sponsorships)
Company documentTier 1QNET Ltd · 2026
QNET’s own history: founded on 8 September 1998 by Vijay Eswaran, Joseph Bismark and a small group; Official Direct Selling Partner of Manchester City FC since 2014; first sleeve sponsor of Manchester City Women in 2018; CAF club competitions from the 2018 season; the Man City partnership extended in 2024; 15,000 at the 2019 V-Convention.
QNET Code of Ethics
Policies & proceduresTier 1QNET Ltd · 2026
Bars distributors from presenting the business as an investment or a ‘get-rich-quick’ scheme and from false statements about the registration process or compensation plan.
QNET Social Media Policy
Policies & proceduresTier 1QNET Ltd · 2026
Requires distributors to identify themselves as QNET Independent Distributors, bars QNET trademarks in usernames, and requires testimonials to be truthful and typical.
How QNET’s Direct Selling Association (DSA) and industry memberships foster trust
Company documentTier 1QNET Ltd · 2025-06-27
QNET’s own list of DSA memberships: Malaysia (since 2010), Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia (AP2LI) and Turkey.
QNET Independent Representatives are now called QNET Independent Distributors
Company documentTier 1QNET Ltd · 2025-11-05
QNET’s announcement renaming Independent Representatives (IRs) as Independent Distributors (IDs).
KENT-QNET SMART Alkaline-Mineral RO Water Purifier
Company documentTier 1Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Pvt Ltd (QNET India) · 2026
QNET India’s product page for the KENT-QNET purifier, without a price; its footer states that Vihaan does not charge registration fees to distributors.
QNET Wellness products (Amezcua)
Company documentTier 1QNET Ltd · 2026
Lists the Amezcua Chi Pendant, Bio Disc, Bio Light and E-Guard X without prices and describes them as "non-invasive energy innovations."
QNET watches and jewelry page (Bernhard H. Mayer)
Company documentTier 1QNET Ltd · 2026
Lists Bernhard H. Mayer collections without prices and presents the brand as Swiss-made watchmaking dating to 1871.
QNET Home and Living (HomePure)
Company documentTier 1QNET Ltd · 2026
Lists the HomePure Nova, Viva, Zayn and Rayn without prices.
QNET Personal Care and Beauty (Physio Radiance)
Company documentTier 1QNET Ltd · 2026
Lists the Physio Radiance line without prices.
QNET Holidays (QVI)
Company documentTier 1QNET Ltd · 2026
Lists QVI Club, QVI Breaks and QVI Tripsavr without prices.
Vihaan India Product Price List (effective 31 July 2025)
Company documentTier 1Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Pvt Ltd (QNET India) · 2025-07-31
Maximum retail prices in rupees, linked as "Product Price List" from qnet-india.in: the KENT Smart Alkaline water purifier at ₹39,340, an Amezcua Chi Pendant 4 duo pack at ₹64,350, a Physio Radiance Visage+ facial device at ₹69,500, Chairos watches from ₹35,800 to ₹1,28,000 and a HomePure Viva purifier at ₹2,38,900; no Distributorship Package, fee or point values.

Unable to verify

What we could not get

The price of QNET’s Distributorship Package and Annual Distributorship Fee in any market - required by the Policies & Procedures but not stated in them or on QNET’s public pages.
Final outcomes of the pending Indian criminal, consumer-authority and company-law proceedings - no final order or verdict in any of them was saved.
Whether Personal RSP carried forward under the plan’s Schedule 3 footnote counts toward the monthly 50 Personal RSP that clause 11 requires to stay Active - the plan does not say.
Country-specific local plans, which the Policies & Procedures require distributors to join where they exist, and the RSP and BV assigned to each product - neither is published on QNET’s public pages.

Not advice

This is independent analysis for decision-making, not legal, financial or investment advice. Allegations reported by third parties should be verified against primary court and regulatory records before any decision.

Who writes this

Researched by Claude. Reviewed by an editor.

Every report is researched and written by Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant, from the company’s own plan documents, policies, terms and regulatory file - then reviewed before publication by Rob Fore, who checks the sources and the stage-label on every allegation.

Nine weighted dimensions, published with their weights
The editor checks the evidence and cannot change the number - the build rejects any page whose grade does not reconcile to its own arithmetic
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Common questions

QNET - frequently asked

QIs QNET the same company as Vihaan Direct Selling?

No. QNET Ltd is the Hong Kong-incorporated parent brand and compensation-plan licensor; Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Private Limited is an independently incorporated Indian company that operates as QNET’s licensed sub-franchisee in India.

QHas QNET ever been convicted of a crime?

No conviction of the corporate entity - QNET Ltd or Vihaan - was located, in India or elsewhere, and no conviction of either founder was located.

QDoes QNET publish an income disclosure statement?

No. QNET publishes an "Earnings and Income Disclaimer" - a legal disclaimer stating that income examples are not guaranteed and that testimonials reflect exceptional results - but no statistical disclosure with an average income, median income, or percentage of profitable participants was located despite extensive searching.

QHas any court ever ruled that QNET’s business model is legal?

Once, on one petition: on 15 February 2017 the Karnataka High Court quashed a chargesheet as against a QNET executive and held, prima facie, that the activities of QNET and Vihaan are not a "Money Circulation Scheme" or "Prize chit" under the Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978. It has not stopped fresh criminal cases from being brought against the same India franchisee in other states.

Who wrote this report

Author, editor and publisher

Written by Claude AI

Reviewed by Rob Fore · Published by Listech Inc · September 14, 2026

This report was researched and written by Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant, working from primary documents - QNET’s own compensation plan, its policies and procedures, its terms of service, its income disclosure statement where one exists, and its regulatory and self-regulatory file. It was scored against nine weighted dimensions that are published in full, with their weights, on the methodology page.

Before publication it was reviewed by Rob Fore, who checks every source link, every figure against the document it came from, and every allegation against its stage-label - an investigation is not a finding, a warning letter is not an enforcement action, and a filed claim is not a verdict.

The editor does not set the grade. The published score is the weighted composite of the nine dimension scores, and the build refuses to emit a page where the two disagree by more than 0.06. A grade moves when the evidence moves it and not otherwise.

Rob Fore has marketed online since 1996, wrote Online MLM Marketing (2014), and is CEO of Listech Inc, the Nevada corporation that publishes this site. He holds affiliate positions in companies graded here - including LiveGood, which this site grades D, SendOutCards, which it grades C−, and the Home Business Academy, which it grades B−. Those positions are disclosed on the reports they touch, and changed nothing on this page.

About the author and our conflicts · Contact the editor · Corrections: corrections@opportunitygrade.com

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Corrections

Every factual claim on this page is sourced, and the ones we could not stand up are named in the unable to verify list above. If something here is wrong, we want to know, and we would rather hear it from QNET than from a reader.

Write to corrections@opportunitygrade.com. Point at the specific sentence and send the document that contradicts it - a plan document, a filing, an income disclosure, a policy page. We will check it against the primary source, correct the page if it is wrong, and keep a dated record of the change. A grade moves if the evidence moves it.

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