The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai, has uncovered a large-scale customs fraud involving the import of premium branded luxury furniture, leading to the evasion of customs duty to the tune of ₹30 crore. Acting on specific intelligence inputs, the DRI carried out raids at multiple locations, including warehouses, freight forwarding offices, customs brokers’ premises, and other linked entities.
According to DRI officials, the investigation revealed a highly sophisticated modus operandi that used dummy importers, fabricated invoices, and shell companies based abroad to undervalue luxury furniture being imported from reputed Italian and European brands. Although the goods were shipped directly from Europe to India, invoicing was routed through shell entities based in Dubai and Singapore to falsely declare them as unbranded furniture at a much lower value.
The masterminds allegedly used front-end importers (IEC holders) to clear the undervalued goods at Customs. These goods were later shown to be transferred on paper to a local intermediary, but in reality, they were either sent directly to the final customer or the main beneficiary — a well-known luxury furniture brand with pan-India operations.
Preliminary findings have revealed gross undervaluation in the range of 70% to 90% of the actual transaction value. The estimated customs duty evasion is pegged at ₹30 crore. The DRI has arrested three individuals — the beneficial owner of the brand, the importer, and a local intermediary — under provisions of the Customs Act, 1962, on July 21 and 22.
This is not the first time the DRI has uncovered such a case. In May 2025, officials had exposed a similar racket involving undervaluation of luxury furniture imports, which resulted in a duty evasion of over ₹20 crore. That case too involved the use of a front company as a dummy importer and had led to the arrest of three persons.
DRI officials said they are continuing their probe to track down the wider network of shell companies, dummy IEC holders, financial transactions, and masterminds behind such scams.
The agency has intensified its crackdown on such commercial frauds, which not only cause significant revenue losses to the government but also disrupt fair competition by putting honest importers and domestic manufacturers at a disadvantage.