The Director General of GST Intelligence (DGGI ) made a presentation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the modus operandi and the severity of the fake invoices fraud in Hyderabad, where several top infrastructure companies working for irrigation projects and major infrastructure projects are involved. According to DGGI sources, The GST fraud involving several companies could be more than 1,800 crore. The presentation, which included case studies, mentioned top infrastructure companies from Hyderabad. “The web of fake invoices is deep-rooted. There is corruption in major infrastructure projects and there is a cheating aspect too. Banks were also duped. The DGGI’s role is to only look into the GST evasion,” said an official.
A top official of DGGI said that Hyderabad tops in the country in terms of the amount of tax that has been evaded by real estate and infrastructure companies. Sources said that tax evasion worth around 300 crore has been realised so far. Officials have not arrested those who paid half of the tax money evaded,” they said. Infra companies who are into government projects like irrigation in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana played a key role in the fake invoice fraud case by getting invoices supplied from organised fraudsters. In the steel industry, due to rolling mills, distributors and smelting factories of scrap iron, the commodity is prone to GST evasion.