The government has released a list of risky exporters who have caused a loss to the state exchequer through fraudulent IGST claims.
According to people aware of the development, these fraudulent 1,377 exporters claimed refund amounting to Rs 1,875 crore. This number also includes seven ‘star’ exporters, they said, adding that these people are untraceable.
Adverse reports have been received about three other ‘star’ exporters, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. They added that the 10 of them have claimed IGST refund amounting to Rs 28.9 crore deceitfully.
The IGST, or Integrated Goods and Services Tax, is a tax levied on all inter-state supplies of goods and services. The collected amount goes to the Centre. It is part of the Goods and Services (GST) regime which was launched in 2017 and replaced multiple taxes with one unified regime.
People aware of the matter said that there are 7,516 exporters in the government’s risky list. Out of them, IGST refund worth Rs 1,363 crore is suspended in respect of 2,830 risky exporters, they said.
Adverse reports have been received in respect of 2197 risky exporters, the people cited above further said.
The information regarding these exporters has been shared with the respective field offices and the income tax returns filed by them are being verified, they said.
Exporters are put under the risky category based on specific indicators in the Customs, GST, Income Tax and Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) data.