Customs tax evasion of Rs 3,972 cr detected till 2013: Centre

New Delhi: Government has detected customs tax evasion of Rs 3,792 crore in 14 states till December in the current fiscal 2013-14, Parliament was informed today. In a total of 4,035 cases of tax evasion in these 14 states; Maharashtra topped at Rs 1,419.29 crore, followed by Andhra Pradesh at Rs 813.59 crore, Delhi Rs 546.37 crore, Gujarat Rs 524.34 crore, Karnataka Rs 166.79 crore and Tamil Nadu of Rs 161.04 crore, Minister of State for Finance JD Seelam said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. [caption id=“attachment_1396505” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Minister of State for Finance JD Seelam. Image courtesy PIB[/caption] Other states against whom tax duty evasions were detected are - Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Kerala and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Seelam said two separate cases of duty evasion amounting to a total of Rs 742.48 crore were detected in Maharashtra. “The said cases involve misuse of exemption notification in the import of rigs by ABL Shipyard and misdeclaration of value of LED lights, lamps and torches by Riddhi Siddhi collection and Aisha Electronics,” he said. The minister further said that after conclusion of investigations, showcause notices demanding total duty of Rs 293.49 crore (Rs 119.11 crore on Riddhi Siddhi Collection and Rs 174.39 crore on Aisha Electronics) were issued. Also, two persons have been arrested, Seelam said. Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his interim Budget 2014-15 presented on Monday, revised customs duty target for current fiscal to Rs 1.75 lakh crore, down from budget estimate for FY14 at Rs 1.87 lakh crore. PTI