Government cracks down on fraudulent exporters

The pan-India operation has revealed that many entities are either non-existent or given fictitious addresses

September 13, 2019 01:14 am | Updated 01:57 am IST - NEW DELHI

The Ministry of Finance. File

The Ministry of Finance. File

In a joint operation, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) have conducted pan-India searches against exporters claiming refunds fraudulently.

The searches were carried out on Wednesday by about 1,200 officials at 336 locations spread across 15 States including Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra.

The operation revealed that many entities were either non-existent or had given fictitious addresses. Preliminary inquiries indicated that an Input Tax Credit (ITC) of more than ₹470 crore, with an invoice value of about ₹3,500 crore, was fake. It was also used for claiming cash refunds.

Consignments intercepted

An Integrated-GST refund amount of around ₹450 crore is also under examination. Some consignments of these exporters have been intercepted at Vadodara Rail Container Terminal, Mundra port and Nhava Sheva port to ascertain mis-declaration, said the Finance Ministry.

Data analytics

The Ministry said: “On the basis of data analytics, an intelligence developed in close coordination by both the agencies revealed that some exporters are exporting goods out of India on payment of tax (IGST), being done almost entirely out of the ITC availed on the basis of ineligible/fake supplies.”

Based on the analysis of data provided by the Directorate General of Analytics and Risk Management, the agencies found that there was no, or negligible, payment of tax through cash by such exporters and their suppliers.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.