Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the Government is looking into cases of alleged tax evasion by three mobile companies of China and notices have been given to them. She also said the Government is taking action against dubious digital loan apps, including those originating from outside the country, and also Indians who helped in setting them up through shell companies.
Giving this assurance in the Rajya Sabha after Sushil Modi(BJP)flagged the issue of tax evasion by some Chinese companies, she said the three mobile companies issued notices include Oppo, Vivo India and Xiaomi. The Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has issued a notice to mobile company Oppo for total customs duty of Rs 4,389 crore on the grounds of mis-declaration 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.
The minister said they have voluntarily come about to deposit Rs 450 crore, much against the demand of Rs 4,389 crore. Regarding the other companies, Sitharaman said Xiaomi is another mobile company which deals with assembled MI mobile phones. Three show-cause notices were issued to them and 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. The third company is Vivo India, for whom also there is a demand notice issued for Rs 2,217 crore for which they have deposited Rs 60 crore as voluntary deposit, she informed the House.
Giving some details, the minister said the Enforcement Directorate(ED) is looking at 18 companies that were established by the same group Vivo and there they have voluntarily remitted Rs 62 crore as deposit but the parent company outside of India has the 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.
Appreciating the concern raised by Sujeet Kumar(BJD)regarding the dubious loan apps from China, she said most of these apps are originating from one particular country and as a result a lot of borrowers are harassed and money is being extorted from by these apps. The BJD member also claimed these apps were not following the Reserve Bank of India(RBI)guidelines in giving loans.
Sitharaman said the Ministry of Finance, Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and a few other departments, inclusive of Home, are all constantly discussing and working to ensure action is taken in these cases.
The minister cited an example and said some months ago in Telangana a lot of people were harassed and action was initiated. “That's not to say we are not taking action elsewhere," she said.