GST officers have found cases of Input tax credit evasion of Rs 35,132 crore by 17,818 bogus firms between April 2024 to October 2024 and arrested 69 persons, the government reported to Parliament.
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in an answer to Lok Sabha cited that regular action is been opted to fetch the bogus firms via data analytics and other intelligence by the central and state authorities.
Between Aug. 16 and Oct. 30, a coordinated special drive was launched to fetch the bogus firms, as per the written answer from the minister.
“A total of 18,876 ITC fraud cases were detected involving 17,818 fake firms with suspected ITC evasion of Rs 35,132 crore during fiscal 2024-25 for April 2024-October 2024,” Chaudhary mentioned.
Rs 6,484 crore has been saved from this of which Rs 5400 crore through blocking of ITC and Rs 1062 crore via recovery, marked by the ministry.
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During the current fiscal till October, 69 arrests have been made in the cases.
In his response, the minister outlines that “As a measure to track down and take action against the masterminds, there are sufficiently deterring legal provisions in the CGST Act.”
As per Chaudhary, the National Conference of Enforcement Chiefs of State and Central GST Formations is carried over time and till now two such Conferences have been held.
Issues for the activities being undertaken by the enforcement formations and the importance of balancing enforcement measures with ease of doing business were discussed at the conference.
