Notices issued to 3 Chinese Mobile Companies for Tax Evasion

The Chinese mobile phone companies Oppo, Vivo India, and Xiaomi are being investigated by the government for possible tax evasion, FM Nirmala Sitharaman told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The three firms are Oppo, Vivo India, and Xiaomi, the minister responded to supplements during the question period.

For a total customs duty evasion of Rs 4,389 crore, the department of revenue intelligence (DRI) has issued a notice to Oppo, she added. In response to the demand of Rs 4,389 crore, she claimed they had voluntarily agreed to deposit Rs 450 crore.

We believe that undervaluing imported goods for the aim of avoiding paying customs duty is an evasion of Rs 1,408 crore.

According to Sitharaman, three show-cause warnings have been sent to Xiaomi. There is an estimated duty obligation of roughly Rs 653 crore. Only Rs. 46 lakh have they deposited for the three notices.

The third company is Vivo India, for whom also there is a demand notice issued for Rs 2,217 crore. She stated that Vivo India has made a voluntary deposit of Rs 60 crore in response to a demand notice for Rs 2,217 crore that has been issued.

In addition to these, the ED is investigating 18 businesses started by the same group as Vivo, where the owners have willingly sent 62 crore rupees as a deposit, despite the fact that the parent company’s total revenues outside of India are 1.25 lakh crore.

Sitharaman stated, “Of the Rs 1.25 lakh crore total sales, Vivo has moved significant sums of money through these 18 entities, and it is believed that Vivo India has in turn remitted 0.62 lakh crore to its parent firm, which is outside of India.”