Excise duty evasion over Rs 1800 cr in 2013-14: Fin Min

Increased efforts in checking revenue leakage have resulted in detection of over Rs 1,800 crore central excise duty evasion across the country during 2013-14.

As many as 379 cases of central excise duty evasion were registered by the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) during the last fiscal. These cases involved central excise duty evasion of Rs 1,879.69 crore, Finance Ministry officials said.

Various private entities were evading the central levy through misrepresenting the quantity of goods being produced by them and misuse of government incentives or abatements among others, they said.

However, DGCEI officials could realise only Rs 362.80 crore from these detections, the officials said.

In 2012-13, as many as 458 cases involving evasion of about Rs 2,940 crore were detected by the excise intelligence officials. The realisation was about Rs 1,018 crore.

An excise duty is applicable at the rate of 12.36 per cent on the total quantity of goods produced by a company.

The detection of excise duty evasion cases was excluding of such cases registered by various central excise commissionerates spread across the country.

Manufacturers of pan masala, cigarettes, iron and steel, vehicles parts and accessories, malted foods and chocolates are most prone to evade excise duty, the official said.

Finance Ministry is taking stringent action against any tax defaulter or evader in order to check any loss of the government revenue, he added.

About Rs 1.75 lakh crore was collected as central excise revenue during 2012-13 as against Rs 1.44 lakh crore in 2011-12.