Three newsprint firms booked for duty evasion

The central excise and customs department has booked the Surat-based Rama Newsprint, and two Ankleshwar-based paper mills for excise duty evasion to the tune of whopping Rs 173 crore.

Giving details, K L Goyal, commissioner, central excise and customs, Surat - II, said, "We have booked Rama Newsprint in a case of excise duty evasion of Rs 143 crore. The duty evasion took place in the last five years."

"Similarly, the Ankleshwar-based Rajeshwaranand Paper Mill and Swami Harigiri Paper Mill, have also been booked for excise duty evasion of Rs 25 crore and Rs 5 crore respectively," he said.

"The department would issue showcause notices to these paper mills asking them to reply as to why the duty should not be recovered from them. If the adjudicating authority is satisfied with their replies, the case would be dropped. If not, the department would move ahead with the case in accordance with the law," Goyal added.

Newsprint is manufactured and cleared in various forms, but the two main forms are rolls or reels. Earlier, the newsprint in reel form was exempted from excise duty, while the roll form attracted a certain amount of duty.