The government is looking into fraud by digital loan apps as well, says Nirmala Sitharaman
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday informed Rajya Sabha that three mobile phone companies — Oppo India, Xiaomi Technology India Pvt.Ltd., and Vivo Mobiles India — are under disquisition for duty elusion and remitting deals proceeds to companies outside India. All three companies are from China.
Sitharaman said that the government was taking cognizance of the cases where digital loan apps “ forming from one particular country ” were being misused to kill citizens and wring plutocrats. She added that the “ government is purposely taking action against Indian citizens who have helped in having these companies established and other shell companies through which they’re operating. ”
Responding to a question from member Sushil Modi, about Chinese companies that have remitted plutocrats to China and China-controlled homes, the Minister said the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence( DRI) has issued a notice to Oppo for ₹,389 crore duty elusion on grounds of misdeclaration of certain goods. “ The duty elusion is about ₹,981 crores, undervaluation of imported goods of ₹ 1408 crore. Oppo has freely deposited ₹ 450 crores against ₹,389 crore demand, ” she detailed.
Three show- cause notices have been served to Xiaomi, whose approximate duty liability is ₹ 653 crores. “ For the three show-cause notices they’ve deposited only ₹ 46 lakhs, ” the minister said, adding that “ the third company is Vivo India and a demand notice has been given for ₹,217 crore for which they’ve deposited ₹ 60 crore. ”
Besides this, Enforcement Directorate( ED) is looking at 18 companies established by Vivo, she said. While the company has freely remitted ₹ 62 lakh crores as deposit, it’s believed that Vivo India has remitted ₹0.62 lakh crore to its parent company outside India, through these 18 companies, for the total deals of1.25 lakh crore that happed between July 2017 and March 2021, the Minister explained in a written reply.
Five cases of customs duty elusion have been reserved against Xiaomi Technology India, she added.
During the 2019 to 2022 period, Central Board of Indirect levies & Customs( CBIC) registered cases against 43 other similar companies. As for the Central Board of Direct levies( CBDT), Investigation Directorates have accepted hunt and seizure conduct in cases of five groups pertaining to the telecom sector, for duty elusion, the reply mentioned.
Responding to a question by Prime Minister Narendra Modi about how numerous of those 43 companies under CBIC lens were Chinese,Ms. Sitharaman said that all companies belong to different countries.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs( MHA) informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that 81 Chinese citizens were given “ Leave India Notice ” in the times 2019, 2020 and 2021. While as numerous as 117 Chinese persons were deported, 726 others were placed on adverse list for violating visa conditions or other illegal acts, it added.
