The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) detected Rs 2.01 lakh crore in Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion during the financial year 2023-24, nearly double the Rs 1.01 lakh crore detected in FY23. According to the DGGI's latest annual report, Mumbai topped the charts with the highest GST evasion of Rs 70,985 crore, followed by Delhi (Rs 18,313 crore), Pune (Rs 17,328 crore), Gurugram (Rs 15,502 crore), and Hyderabad (Rs 11,081 crore).
The report revealed that the most evasion-prone sectors among services were real money online gaming, banking, financial, and insurance services (BFSI). Among goods, industries dealing with iron, copper, scrap, alloys, as well as pan masala, tobacco, cigarettes, and bidi, were identified as high-risk for GST evasion.
In FY24, 6,084 cases of GST evasion were uncovered, a sharp increase from 4,872 cases in the previous financial year. Voluntary payments in evasion cases totaled Rs 26,605 crore across 4,520 cases in FY24, up from Rs 20,713 crore in 3,683 cases in FY23.
The report showed that 46% of GST evasion cases were due to non-payment of tax, including clandestine supply and undervaluation, while 20% were attributed to the fraudulent availment of fake input tax credit (ITC), and 19% to wrong availment or non-reversal of ITC or blocked credit.
Among services, the real money online gaming sector topped the list with Rs 81,875 crore in GST evasion across 78 cases. The BFSI sector followed with Rs 18,961 crore evasion in 171 cases. Works contract services recorded 343 cases involving Rs 2,846 crore, and the pharmaceutical sector had 22 cases of GST evasion amounting to Rs 40 crore.
In the goods sector, iron, copper, scrap, and alloys had 1,976 cases involving Rs 16,806 crore of GST evasion in FY24. The pan masala, tobacco, cigarette, and bidi sector followed with Rs 5,794 crore evasion across 212 cases.
Additional sectors with significant GST evasion included plywood, timber, and paper (Rs 1,196 crore in 238 cases), electronic items (Rs 1,165 crore in 23 cases), and marble, granite, and tiles (Rs 315 crore in 235 cases).
Overall, GST authorities detected Rs 2.37 lakh crore in evasion across 20,576 cases during FY24. The DGGI was responsible for Rs 2.01 lakh crore of this, while Central GST zones detected Rs 35,377 crore in 14,492 cases.
The detection of GST evasion has been steadily rising since the introduction of the GST regime in 2017. The DGGI report highlights this growth, with Rs 7,879 crore detected in FY18, Rs 19,319 crore in FY19, Rs 21,739 crore in FY20, Rs 31,908 crore in FY21, and Rs 50,325 crore in FY22.
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