Editor’s Note
Authorities in India have uncovered significant GST evasion totaling Rs 11,000 crore across multiple major companies, with notices already issued to several units. This ongoing investigation highlights continued enforcement efforts in key industrial sectors.
The Indian Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence have detected GST evasion worth Rs 11,000 crore, carried out by 24 major companies. Some of the involved companies are in the steel, pharmaceutical, gems and jewellery, and textile sectors. Notices have been issued to seven units in this regard. The agencies are in the process of sending notices to others. According to a media report, the companies are largely from the steel, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery, and textile sectors. In these cases, tax evasion was detected based on data.
During the previous financial year, officers of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) recovered Rs 21,000 crore. The official said the government is taking steps to increase compliance and is using data analytics and human intelligence to identify fraud. In 2021-22, the investigating agency DGGI, under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, detected evasion of over Rs 54,000 crore and recovered over Rs 21,000 crore in taxes. The total number of Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion cases has increased this financial year, with nearly 14,000 cases detected in 2022-23, up from 12,574 cases in 2021-22 and 12,596 cases in 2020-21.
According to information provided by the Finance Ministry in the Lok Sabha, total GST evasion detected between July 2017 and February 2023 was Rs 3.08 lakh crore, out of which over Rs 1.03 lakh crore was recovered. GST officials had arrested 1,402 people on charges of tax evasion in the past five and a half years until February 2023.