Notices issued to 3 Chinese mobile companies for tax evasion: FM Sitharaman

The government is looking into cases of alleged tax evasion by three mobile companies of China and notices have been given to them, FM Nirmala Sitharaman informed Rajya Sabha

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

Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour, the minister said the three companies are 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 and these are 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.

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

Regarding the other companies, she said Xiaomi is another mobile company which deals with assembled MI mobile phones.

"Three show-cause notices have been issued to them and 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.

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.

"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 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.