Punjab traced Rs 1,549-crore transactions of bogus bills, says minister

Chandigarh, May 12 Punjab Excise and Taxation Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday said the investigative wings of the state's Taxation Department have detected transactions of Rs 1,549 crore involving bogus billing or paper transactions and have successfully blocked fraudulent Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims amounting to Rs 108.79 crore in this fiscal.

Cheema provided details to the media here on the enforcement action undertaken by the Taxation Department. He said the department has blocked the ITC of Rs 21 crore by exposing fake invoices of Rs 900 crore in gold transactions in Ludhiana. Additionally, Rs 12 crore of ITC was blocked after detecting fraudulent invoices of Rs 226 crore in coal transactions from Mohali, Kharar, and Kotkapura. Further enforcement actions led to the blocking of Rs 75.79 crore of ITC by uncovering bogus transactions of Rs 423 crore in Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh.

In another major seizure, authorities intercepted a vehicle travelling from Ranchi to Ludhiana carrying two kg of gold without an invoice, and the investigation into this case is currently ongoing. Emphasising the significance of these enforcement actions, the Finance Minister highlighted the landmark statewide operation conducted on May 19. As part of this operation, 195 GST-registered firms, including 156 centrally-registered firms and 39 state-registered companies, were physically verified, revealing fraudulent paper transactions amounting to Rs 423 crore, resulting in the blocking of Rs 75.79 crore of ITC. A majority of the implicated firms were located in Ludhiana (100 firms) and Mandi Gobindgarh (72 firms).

Highlighting the state’s enforcement actions under the GST regime, the minister said the department has made notable arrests, including a high-profile case where an individual was apprehended for masterminding a racket involving fake invoicing and fraudulent ITC claims of Rs 29.50 crore. The firm in question made inward supplies of Rs 163 crore in 2023-24 and 2024-25 from over 60 bogus and cancelled firms.

Finance Minister Cheema credited the department’s success in carrying out these enforcement drives to the 15 modules developed under an agreement with IIT Hyderabad, along with crucial inputs from the ‘Bill Liyao Inaam Pao’ scheme. He announced that seven more such modules would be activated soon. So far, 4,880 consumers have collectively won Rs 2,89,15,295 by uploading their purchase bills on the ‘Mera Bill’ app.

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