Oppo, Xiaomi, Vivo India served notices for tax evasion, says Nirmala Sitharaman

By Team Newsable | First Published Aug 2, 2022, 6:38 PM IST

The government is looking into cases of alleged tax evasion by three mobile companies of China, the Finance Minister announced. She said the three firms are Oppo, Vivo India and Xiaomi while replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour.

The government is investigating into cases of suspected tax avoidance by Chinese mobile companies Oppo, Vivo India and Xiaomi and notifications have been handed to them, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

According to the minister, "duty evasion is roughly Rs 2,981 crore" and that "the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has given a notice to Oppo for total customs duty of Rs 4,389 crore and these are on the grounds of misdeclaration of certain items resulting to a short payment of customs tax."

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She said that the government believes that undervaluing imported goods for the aim of avoiding paying customs tax is an evasion of Rs 1,408 crore. In contrast to the demand for Rs 4,389 crore, she said they had come forward willingly to deposit Rs 450 crore.

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During Question Hour, she was responding to supplementary questions. She stated that Xiaomi, which deals with constructed MI mobile phones, has received three show-cause warnings with regards to the other businesses.

"There is an approximate duty obligation of Rs 653 crore. For the three show cause notices, they have been issued, they have deposited just Rs 46 lakh," the minister added. She informed the House that a demand notice for Vivo India had been issued for Rs 2,217 crore, for which they had made a voluntary deposit of Rs 60 crore.

According to the finance minister's written response, an inquiry by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence led to the serving of Oppo Mobiles India Ltd. with a show cause notice requesting Rs 4403.88 crore. In her written response, Sitharaman stated that the investigation directorates had carried out search and seizure operations in cases involving five organisations related to the telecom sector where tax cheating had been discovered.

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(With PTI inputs)

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