Income tax department conducts surveys at Flipkart and Swiggy offices

The income-tax (I-T) department is conducting surveys at Instakart, a group company of e-commerce giant Flipkart, and food delivery firm Swiggy in Bengaluru. The surveys are related to an alleged bogus input tax credit connected to the external vendors of these firms, according to the sources.
 
A team of I-T department officials reached the office of Instakart, located on the Flipkart campus in Bengaluru, on Wednesday. “They are investigating Merlin and Surya Services, which are the third-party vendors for Instakart,” said a person familiar with the matter. “Due to these vendors, Instakart got entangled into this situation.”
 
According to sources, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) is running a countrywide campaign against GST (goods and services tax) evaders to reduce the abuse of the framework. Based on the insights found by DGGI related to GST invasion, the case was sent to the I-T department to check income tax evasion.
 
A Flipkart spokesperson confirmed the survey. “The officials from the I-T department have contacted us,” said the spokesperson. “We are providing them with all the required information and are extending our full co-operation. We believe we are in full compliance with all applicable tax and legal requirements.”
 
An I-T department team also landed at the office of Swiggy to conduct the survey. According to the sources, due to a third-party vendor’s alleged default, the department initiated a follow-up survey at Swiggy. “As a law-abiding company, we are in full compliance with the tax and legal mandates,” said a Swiggy spokesperson. “The survey by the IT officials is underway and our team is extending full cooperation to the concerned authorities.”