The GST intelligence authority has unearthed tax evasion of Rs 824 crore by 15 companies, officials said on Thursday. The companies, including ICICI Prudential, have been accused of using the input tax credit ITC credit without supply of goods and services.
The Directorate General of GST Intelligence DGGI has initiated an investigation after a tip-off against availing of ineligible credit, according to the DGGI Mumbai Zonal unit.
In addition to this, officials said that other companies and non-banking companies NBFCs have also exploited a similar route to avail of ineligible GST officers of the Mumbai zone, such as NBFCs and banks, during which similar cases of misutilisation were detected without receipt of goods or services.
The investigation found that these entities had formed an arrangement to pass on ineligible in the guise of marketing services and fraudulent invoices were raised by following a systematic modus operandi in connivance with each other.
The strategy was systematically planned and executed at the behest of insurance companies, officials said.
The authority has recorded statements of key persons involved, indicating that they have been following a route to evade ITC since the inception of GST.
Some of the total amount of Rs 824 crore detected are voluntarily paid 217 crore in cash under Section 74 5 of the CGST Act, 2017 ICICI Prudential, which paid around Rs 100 crore in cash to the DGGI after the evasion was detected during the investigation.