29,273 bogus firms involved in Rs 44,015 crore tax evasion detected since May 2023

This has protected revenue of Rs 1,317 crore of which Rs 319 crore has been realised and Rs 997 crore has been protected by blocking ITC.

As many as 29,273 bogus firms involved in alleged input tax credit (ITC) evasion of Rs 44,015 crore have been identified since the special hunt against false registrations began in mid-May 2023, the Finance Ministry said on January 7.

“Since the initiation of the special drive against fake registrations in mid-May 2023, a total of 29,273 bogus firms involved in suspected Input Tax Credit (ITC) evasion of Rs. 44,015 crore have been detected. This has saved Rs 4,646 crore of which Rs 3,802 crore is by blocking of ITC and Rs. 844 crore is by way of recovery. So far, 121 arrests have been made in the cases,” a statement released by the ministry read.

It added that in the quarter ended December 2023, 4,153 fictitious entities were discovered, including alleged ITC evasion of roughly Rs 12,036 crore. The central GST officials identified as many as 2,358 of these fraudulent entities.

“This has protected revenue of Rs 1,317 crore of which Rs 319 crore has been realised and Rs 997 crore has been protected by blocking ITC. A total of 41 persons were arrested in these cases. About 31 of these arrests were by Central GST authorities,” the ministry stated.

The government has taken various measures to strengthen the GST registration process. Pilot projects of biometric-based Aadhaar authentication at the time of registration have been launched in Gujarat, Puducherry, and Andhra Pradesh, it added.

“Besides, the government has endeavoured to curtail evasion of tax through measures such as sequential filing of GST returns, system generated intimation for reconciliation of the gap in tax liability in GSTR-1 & GSTR- 3B returns and of the gap between ITC available as per GSTR-2B & ITC availed in GSTR-3B returns, use of data analytics and risk parameters for detection of fake ITC, etc,” the Finance Ministry further noted.