‘Tax evasion’ by Ahmedabad pharma group, two arrested

The State GST Department in Gujarat Wednesday said it detected large-scale GST evasion by an Ahmedabad-based pharmaceutical group comprising 11 related entities engaged in pharma and chemical trading.

“During coordinated search operations conducted at 32 premises across 14 locations, mainly in Ahmedabad, it was found that several entities were operating from common centralised premises at Makarba. Investigation revealed that certain entities had amended their GST registrations to include Iron & steel /ingots trading and were involved in fraudulent availment of Input Tax Credit (ITC) through bogus invoices and e-way bills without actual movement of goods,” said a statement from SGAT on Wednesday.

The investigators said they carried out advanced data analytics, including RFID and toll-plaza verification, and multiple declared places of business were found to be non-functional.