Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion amounting to ₹7.08 lakh crore has been detected in 91,370 cases over the last five financial years (2020–21 to 2024–25), the Parliament was informed on Monday.
Of this, ₹1.79 lakh crore was related to Input Tax Credit (ITC) fraud, involving 44,938 cases detected during the same period.
The total GST recovered during these five years through voluntary deposits stood at over ₹1.29 lakh crore.
In the current financial year 2024–25 alone, GST evasion worth ₹2.23 lakh crore has been unearthed by Central GST (CGST) field officers, according to data tabled by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in the Lok Sabha.
Of the 30,056 cases reported this year, 15,283—more than half—pertained to ITC fraud, involving an amount of ₹58,772 crore.
In the financial year 2023–24, officials detected GST evasion of ₹2.30 lakh crore, including ₹36,374 crore in ITC fraud. Similarly, in 2022–23, evasion worth ₹1.32 lakh crore was detected, with ₹24,140 crore attributed to ITC fraud.
In 2021–22, ₹73,238 crore of evasion was identified, of which ₹28,022 crore was linked to ITC fraud. In 2020–21, evasion stood at ₹49,384 crore, with ₹31,233 crore coming from ITC-related fraud.
The minister also informed the House that net CGST collections reached 96.7% of the revised estimates (RE) for FY 2024–25.
He added that the government and the GST Network (GSTN) have taken several steps to curb tax evasion. These include measures such as e-invoicing, advanced analytics, system-based identification of outliers, generation of actionable intelligence, and risk-based audits and scrutiny.
Additionally, initiatives like “Project Anveshan” (Analytics, Verification, Shortlisting of Anomalies) have been introduced. This project uses technologies like Facial Recognition Systems and analysis of e-way bill data to identify GSTINs with a high risk of fraudulent activity, helping generate timely intelligence reports.
-IANS