Notices issued to three Chinese mobile companies for tax evasion: FM

FM Sitharaman was replying to supplementaries during Question Hour

The government is looking into cases of alleged tax evasion by Chinese mobile companies Oppo, Vivo India and Xiaomi and notices have been given to them, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has issued a notice to Oppo for total customs duty of Rs 4,389 crore and these are on the grounds of misdeclaration of certain goods leading to a short payment in customs duty, she said, adding, "duty evasion we think is about Rs 2,981 crore".

"Undervaluation of imported goods for the purpose of payment of customs duty, that we think is an evasion of Rs 1,408 crore," she said.

She said voluntarily they have come about to deposit Rs 450 crore, much against the demand of Rs 4,389 crore.

She was replying to supplementaries during Question Hour.

Regarding the other companies, she said Xiaomi, which deals with assembled MI mobile phones, has been issued three show-cause notices.

"'The approximate duty liability there is about Rs 653 crore. For the three show cause notices, they have been issued, they have deposited only Rs 46 lakh," the minister said.

For Vivo India, a demand notice has been issued for Rs 2,217 crore for which they have deposited Rs 60 crore as a voluntary deposit, she informed the House.

"Besides these, the ED is looking at 18 companies that were established by the same group Vivo and there they have voluntarily remitted Rs 62 crore as deposits but the parent company outside of India has total sales of 1.25 lakh crore.

"Of the Rs 1.25 lakh crore total sales, Vivo has transferred through these 18 companies huge amounts of funds and it is believed that Vivo India has, in turn, remitted 0.62 lakh crore to its parent company which is outside India," Sitharaman said.

In her written reply, the finance minister said a show cause notice demanding Rs 4403.88 crore has been served on Oppo Mobiles India Ltd. based on the investigation conducted by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

Five cases of Customs duty evasion have been booked against Xiaomi Technology India, she said

"During the period 2019 to 2022, in respect of Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC), cases against 43 other such companies have been booked.

"'As regards to Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Investigation Directorates have undertaken search & seizure actions in cases of five groups pertaining to the telecom sector, in which tax evasion has been detected," Sitharaman said in her written reply.