Tax raids on Dolo 650 maker, officials say cash, jewellery worth Rs 2.6 crore seized

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The Income Tax department on Wednesday said it seized unaccounted cash of Rs 1.20 crore, gold and diamond jewellery worth more than Rs 1.40 crore after raiding Bengaluru-based pharma major MicroLabs Limited.

“During the course of the search operations, substantial incriminating evidence, in form of documents and digital data, has been found and seized on July 6,” the Income Tax department said.

According to the tax department, evidence suggested that the pharma group has been debiting the account of the distribution of freebies to the medical professionals under the head “Sales and Promotion”, in its books of account for unallowable expenses.

The evidence indicates that the group has adopted unethical practice to promote its products/ brands. The quantum of such freebies detected is estimated to be around Rs 1,000 crore, the IT department said.

MoneyControl reached out to the official spokesperson of MicroLabs, who said he is not aware of any such developments and refused to comment.

Interestingly, MicroLabs’s Dolo 650 made big money during the COVID-19 and the company became a market leader in the sector.

According to the IT department, the group is also found to have claimed artificially inflated deduction under special provisions in respect of certain incomes, by resorting to suppression of expenses and over-appropriation of revenue to the unit eligible for such deduction.

“Various other means of tax evasion, including inadequate allocation of research and development expenses to eligible units and inflated claim of weighted deduction under section 35 (2AB), have also been detected. The quantum of tax sought to be evaded through such means is estimated at over Rs 300 crore,” the tax department said.

The sleuths conducted a search operation on 36 premises spread across 9 states.