Ahmedabad, Surat becoming bogus GST billing hubs: Govt

Since the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), Ahmedabad and Surat have become the hubs for bogus billing in Gujarat, while the web of illegal transactions has also spread to rapidly industrialising districts like Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Morbi and Gandhinagar where a sizeable number of trading and business firms have been found involved in this racket.

Both Ahmedabad and Surat districts account for almost 58 per cent of the Rs 3,094 crore worth of taxes involved in bogus billing rackets in the three years ending June 30, 2021, the state government stated in a written reply to an unstarred question asked by Congress MLA from Petlad, Niranjan Patel about bogus billing in
GST during the recently concluded monsoon session of Gujarat Assembly.

While Ahmedabad reported the highest Rs 971 crore of tax involved in bogus billing, in Surat it was Rs 789 crore. Both Ahmedabad and Surat saw the involvement of 250 and 196 firms each, respectively. GST came into effect from July 1, 2017. While this bogus billing racket is being reported from 18 of the 33 districts of Gujarat, smaller industrial clusters like Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Morbi and Gandhinagar are also reporting the involvement of large number of firms in producing fake bills.

Though the government in its written reply stated that no government officials have been found involved in the bogus billing cases till June 30, 2021, the situation changed the very next month.

Source- https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/ahmedabad-surat-becoming-bogus-gst-billing-hubs-govt-7575473/