The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has uncovered 6,084 cases of GST evasion amounting to Rs 2.01 trillion in the 2023-24 fiscal year. The sectors most susceptible to evasion include online gaming and BFSI in services, as well as iron, copper, scrap, and alloys in goods. This figure is double the Rs 1.01 trillion detected in 4,872 cases during the 2022-23 fiscal year.
In the 2023-24 fiscal year, voluntary tax payments amounted to Rs 26,605 crore, an increase from Rs 20,713 crore in 2022-23. According to the annual report of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), approximately 46 percent of evasion cases were due to non-payment of tax through clandestine supply and undervaluation, 20 percent were related to fake Input Tax Credit (ITC), and 19 percent involved wrong availment or non-reversal of ITC.
In the 2023-24 fiscal year, the online gaming sector experienced the highest GST evasion, amounting to Rs 81,875 crore across 78 cases. This was followed by the Banking, Financial, and Insurance (BFSI) sector, which saw Rs 18,961 crore in evasion across 171 cases. The works contract services sector had 343 cases of evasion totaling Rs 2,846 crore, while the pharmaceutical sector had 22 cases involving Rs 40 crore. Additionally, 1,976 cases of GST evasion were detected in the iron, copper, scrap, and alloys sectors, amounting to Rs 16,806 crore in evaded taxes.
The pan masala, tobacco, cigarette, and bidi sector ranked second with 212 cases of GST evasion amounting to Rs 5,794 crore. The plywood, timber, and paper sector had 238 cases involving Rs 1,196 crore in tax evasion. The electronic items sector saw 23 cases totaling Rs 1,165 crore, followed by the marble, granite, and tiles sector with 235 cases amounting to Rs 315 crore in evaded taxes.
In the 2023-24 fiscal year, DGGI officers and the Central GST zone detected a total of over Rs 2.37 trillion in GST evasion across 20,576 cases. This includes Rs 2.01 trillion identified by DGGI in 6,084 cases and Rs 35,377 crore detected by CGST zones in 14,492 cases. The detection of GST evasion by DGGI has been steadily increasing since the implementation of GST in 2017. In 2017-18, Rs 7,879 crore was detected, followed by Rs 19,319 crore in 2018-19, Rs 21,739 crore in 2019-20, Rs 31,908 crore in 2020-21, and Rs 50,325 crore in 2021-22.