GST officials raid Aviva Life Insurance on tax evasion charges

Indian tax inspectors searched the office of British insurance giant Aviva’s life insurance branch near New Delhi last week as part of a probe into alleged tax evasion and seized documents, individuals familiar with the matter said.

The Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence‘s officials also seized laptops on November 7 and questioned some officials, including India CEO Asit Rath and Chief Financial Officer Sonali Athalaya, claimed two of the three people, who did not want to be identified owing to the sensitivity of the matter.

Aviva Life Insurance, India, told Reuters in a statement, We can confirm that GST officials visited our headquarters and we are fully cooperating with them. It provided no further information and declined to comment on the questioning of its executives.

The finance ministry in India, which supervises the GST department, did not respond immediately to an email request for comment.

According to a senior government official, the Aviva searches are part of a bigger investigation involving multiple insurers that face claims of at least $610 million in unpaid dues.

The source added that companies allegedly accounted for sales commissions above the regulator-mandated limit as advertising and marketing costs and then unlawfully claimed tax credits.

According to a regulatory disclosure, India’s largest insurer, state-run Life Insurance Corporation, received a 2.9 billion-rupee ($35 million) demand notice from GST authorities in September as part of the investigation, and other players such as HDFC Life and Bajaj Allianz have also been scrutinised. The insurers have not responded to the inquiries.

The amount of taxes allegedly avoided by Aviva was not immediately evident.

Aviva of the United Kingdom owns 74 % of Aviva Life Insurance in India, with the remainder held by India’s Dabur Invest Corp. In India, Aviva’s life insurance company has a market share of less than 0.5 % based on first-year premium collections.