More Than Rs 2,000 Crore of GST Evasion Detected in Gujarat, Details Inside

Gandhinagar: Gujarat Finance Minister Kanubhai Desai said that more than 17,000 cases of Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion have been detected during the last two years in the state. 

Desai informed the Gujarat Assembly that Rs 2,043.59 crore have been evaded in 17,191 cases in the last two years as of January 2025.

State finance minister was responding to a query raised by Congress MLA Imran Khedawala on tax evasion during Question Hour of the ongoing Budget session.

17,000 Cases of GST Evasion Detected; 15 Arrested

He further informed the Assembly that 15 persons were arrested under the GST Act and a prosecution complaint was filed against them in court.

Additionally, GST numbers allotted to the accused and the traders for tax evasion were also cancelled, he said. 

The Gujarat minister said a show cause notice is served before launching the adjudication process to recover the pending amount.

Also Read: Supreme Court Upholds Constitutional Validity of Arrest Provisions Under Customs and GST Laws

Meanwhile, authorities have busted a Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion racket involving a fraudulent input tax credit (ITC) scam of Rs 26.92 crore and arrested its "mastermind" in Maharashtra 's Thane district. 

CGST Joint Commissioner Amit Kumar Singh said Sultan orchestrated the fraud by setting up 18 fictitious entities which were used to generate fake invoices and claim ITC without any actual supply of goods or services. 

Recently, Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the power of arrest under the amended laws of customs and the central goods and services tax (GST).

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices MM Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi observed that in certain cases, pre-arrest bail applications could be granted, and it was not mandatory for such petitions to be filed only after an FIR, provided there were clear facts and a reasonable basis for fearing arrest.