To curb frauds in Goods and Services Tax (GST) and increase compliance, the GST formations, under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and the State/UT Governments, across the country are carrying out a focused drive on the issue of non-existent / bogus registrations and issuance of fake invoices without any underlying supply of goods and services.

Since the initiation of the special drive against fake registrations in mid-May 2023, a total of 29,273 bogus firms involved in suspected Input Tax Credit (ITC) evasion of Rs. 44,015 crore have been detected. This has saved Rs. 4,646 crore of which Rs. 3,802 crore is by blocking of ITC and Rs. 844 crore is by way of recovery. So far, 121 arrests have been made in the cases.

In the quarter ending December, 2023, 4,153 bogus firms that involved suspected ITC evasion of around Rs. 12,036 crore were detected. 2,358 of these bogus firms were detected by the Central GST Authorities. This has protected revenue of Rs. 1,317 crore of which Rs. 319 crore has been realised and Rs 997 crore has been protected by blocking ITC. 41 persons were arrested in these cases. 31 of these arrests were by Central GST Authorities. State wise details are annexed.

The Government has taken various measures to strengthen the GST registration process. Pilot projects of biometric based Aadhar authentication at the time of registration have been launched in the States of Gujarat, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh. 

Besides, the Government has endeavoured to curtail evasion of tax through measures such as sequential filing of GST returns, system generated intimation for reconciliation of the gap in tax liability in GSTR-1 & GSTR- 3B returns and of the gap between ITC available as per GSTR-2B & ITC availed in GSTR-3B returns, use of data analytics and risk parameters for detection of fake ITC, etc.

Action against bogus firms during Quarter ending in December 2023

Name of the State/UT	Number of bogus firms detected	Tax Evasion suspected (Rs Cr.)	ITC amount blocked / recovered ( Rs Cr.)	Arrests Made	Fake firms per lakh registered firms
Andhra Pradesh	19	765	11	0	5
Arunachal Pradesh	0	13	14	0	0
Assam	19	116	67	0	8
Bihar	30	148	88	0	5
Chandigarh	2	5	1	0	6
Chhattisgarh	26	83	34	1	15
Dad. & Ngr Haveli	0	0	0	0	0
Delhi	483	3028	90	11	61
Goa	4	29	0	0	9
Gujarat	178	445	25	3	15
Haryana	424	624	76	3	81
Himachal Pradesh	4	14	4	0	3
J&K	3	1	0	0	2
Jharkhand	23	110	2	0	11
Karnataka	223	397	59	2	22
Kerala	42	152	4	0	10
Ladakh	0	0	0	0	0
Madhya Pradesh	70	158	22	1	13
Maharashtra	926	2201	102	11	54
Manipur	0	0	0	0	0
Meghalaya	0	5	0	0	0
Mizoram	0	0	0	0	0
Nagaland	0	0	0	0	0
Odisha	138	337	7	0	42
Puducherry	2	2	0	0	8
Punjab	82	75	4	1	21
Rajasthan	507	197	31	1	59
Sikkim	2	2	2	0	18
Tamil Nadu	185	494	374	1	16
Telangana	117	536	235	1	23
Tripura	9	20	0	0	29
Uttar Pradesh	443	1645	44	5	24
Uttarakhand	66	88	0	0	33
West Bengal	126	343	18	0	17
And. & Nicobar Is	0	0	0	0	0
Lakshadweep	0	0	0	0	0
Total	4153	12036	1317	41	29

 

GST bogus registrations crackdown protects revenue and blocks fraudulent input tax credits under strengthened registration and data analytics measures. A focused GST enforcement drive detected 29,273 bogus firms since mid May 2023 involving suspected ITC evasion of Rs. 44,015 crore; interventions blocked or recovered Rs. 4,646 crore and led to 121 arrests. In the December 2023 quarter, 4,153 bogus firms with suspected ITC evasion of about Rs. 12,036 crore were found. Measures to curb such frauds include pilot biometric Aadhaar authentication at registration, sequential return filing, system reconciliations for return mismatches, and use of data analytics and risk parameters to detect and block fake ITC.