Action against risky exporters who attempted to claim Rs 2,020 cr IGST refunds: FinMin officials

Stern action would be taken against risky exporters that have attempted to claim Rs 2,020 crore integrated goods and service tax refunds, said finance ministry officials aware of the matter, noting the rise in cases where exporters were not traceable.

The number of untraceable risky exporters has gone up to 1474 as on date, which includes 7-star exporters, the officials said, adding that IGST refund in the cases have been suspended.

The general modus operandi of risky exporters is to pay IGST at the highest rate of 28% in order to quickly encash the undue ITC claims.

However customs officials have been sensitized to expedite refunds to genuine exporters during Covid-19 days. IGST refunds of more than Rs.1.37 lakh crore have been disbursed and only about Rs 2,026 crore is pending, officials added.

CBIC’s data analytics based on 360 degree profiling of exporters using multiple data sources was implemented to weed out fraudulent exporters from genuine ones with a high degree of success.

Of the 1,474 untraceable exporters, 1,125 exporters have been detected in Delhi, followed by Surat Thane, Faridabad and Kolkata. They claimed to have exported ready-made garments, wallpaper, wall coverings, leather apparel, smoking pipes, mobile phones, cigarette holders, footwear, plastics, floor coverings, ball bearings or roller bearings.