The Income Tax department today conducted searches at the business premises of steel giant Jindal Steel Works here for alleged charges of tax evasion.
A team of I-T officials from the investigation and tax collection wings of the department reached the premises of the company and began scrutinising documents related to purchase orders and other financial dealings, sources said.
“It’s part of routine survey being conducted by the income tax department. They have certain queries and we are fully cooperating with them. The survey is going on only one office of ours at Lower Parel, Mumbai,” JSW spokesperson Sharmila Banerjee told PTI.
“I can’t comment on that,” she said when asked about the queries being posed by the I-T department.
The department is also looking at records of the company’s recent financial dealings related to diversification, sources said.
The searches come a day after JSW Steel announced its ambitious expansion plans.
With the expansion, the company is all set to become the country’s largest steel maker by next month, surpassing State-run SAIL.
It would be commissioning the 3.2 million tonnes per annum blast furnace at its Vijaynagar plant in Karnataka.
After the new capacity addition, JSW will be able to produce 14.3 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) steel, 0.4 million tonnes more than SAIL.
“Our expansion is on track. We should be starting our new blast furnace sometime in April end,” JSW Steel’s Director Marketing Jayant Acharya had told reporters in New Delhi on the sidelines of a steel conference.
At present, the company has a steel making capacity of about 7.8 MTPA at its Vijaynagar and Salem units.
It entered into a deal in December to acquire 41.29 per cent stake in loss-making Ispat Industries having a capacity of about 3.3 MTPA.
By 2020, the Sajjan Jindal-led company is aiming to produce 34 million tonnes of steel annually with greenfield integrated steel plants coming up in West Bengal and Jharkhand.
It is also adding further capacities at the Vijaynagar and Salem units.
On the other hand, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) currently has a production capacity of about 13.8 MTPA and is aiming to expand it to over 60 MTPA by 2020.
Recently, JSW had announced plans to set up a new 2.3 MTPA cold rolling mill capacity in two phases at its Vijaynagar plant at an estimated investment of about Rs 4,000 crore.
Asked about the status of its proposed 10 MTPA plant at Jharkhand, Mr. Acharya said, “We are still looking for land and other clearances and approvals”.
