NEW DELHI: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Wednesday said it has detected Customs duty evasion of nearly Rs 2,217 crore from Vivo Mobile India, a subsidiary of China’s Vivo Communication Technology.
The finance ministry, in its statement, said the searches were conducted by DRI officers at the factory premises of the Chinese tech giant, which led to the recovery of incriminating evidence indicating wilful misdeclaration in the description of certain items imported by Vivo India for use in the manufacture of mobile phones.
“This mis-declaration resulted in wrongful availment of ineligible duty exemption benefits by M/s Vivo India, amounting to Rs 2,217 crore. After completion of the investigation, a show-cause notice has been issued to M/s Vivo India demanding customs duty amounting to Rs 2,217 crore, under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962,” said the ministry.
A sum of Rs 60 crore has been voluntarily deposited by Vivo India towards the discharge of their differential duty liability. Recently in another set of investigations conducted by DRI, show-cause notices demanding a duty of Rs 4,403.88 crore were issued to Oppo Mobiles India.
Lately, Indian agencies have raided almost all Chinese mobile makers including Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Huawei. The ED seized over Rs 5,551 crore worth of funds from Xiaomi tax evasion. The DRI has detected customs duty evasion of Rs 4,389 crore by Oppo India.
At the same time, the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) mandated telcos to source telecom equipment for expansion or upgrade of their existing network from trusted sources. It means Chinese telecom gear makers Huawei and ZTE will not be able to sell their products to Indian telecom operators.
The government has also banned 348 Chinese mobile applications, which were collecting users’ information and transmitting them in an unauthorised manner to servers located outside the country for profiling.
“Based on the request from the home ministry, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has blocked those 348 mobile applications since such data transmissions infringe the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India and security of the State,” said Meity ministry.
In the soup
Recently in another set of investigations conducted by DRI, show-cause notices demanding a duty of Rs 4,403.88 crore were issued to Oppo