GST Fake Registration Drive: 11,140 Bogus registrations detected; FM:

GST Fake Registration Drive: 11,140 Bogus registrations detected; FM Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister of India chaired a review meeting of the ongoing drive against fake billing for GST evasion. The meeting was attended by Revenue Secretary Shri Sanjay Malhotra & CBIC Chairman Shri Vivek Johri. The FM was briefed about action being taken against fake registrations. Finance Minister was told that 11,140 such registrations have already been detected & action has been initiated against them. The FM was apprised of the methods being adopted like identity theft of people. She took note of the ministry's existing efforts, such as OTP-based Aadhar verification and a trial of biometric-based Aadhar authentication during registration in high-risk instances. The RS and CBIC Chairman informed the FM that AI/ML techniques are widely utilised to identify potential bogus networks. Further, She directed that the GST registration procedure be enhanced further utilising technology to prevent such bogus organisations from entering the GST ecosystem. The FM proposed a national campaign to convey the goals of the special push to filter out phoney entities.