In a crackdown on tax evaders in the period between April and September this year, the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI), Ahmedabad zonal unit, recovered around Rs 160 crore as excise duty and service tax. According to officials, more than Rs 300 crore evasion of excise duty and service tax was detected in the first six months of the financial year 2014-15. The DGCEI has also issued more than 100 show cause notices to various companies.

Sources said that the maximum recovery was made from chemical manufacturers and urea makers. In the case of excise duty evasion, DGCEI officials found that some of the assessees had been claiming CENVAT credit on the basis of bogus invoices from various registered dealers, without actually receiving the raw material.

"Last year we had also booked cases against urea manufacturers involved in duty evasion of more than Rs 100 crore," said a DGCEI official.

In the case of service tax recovered, many companies had not paid service tax under reverse charge mechanism. Officials also found that certain big corporate houses and manufacturers had been making payments abroad in foreign exchange to avail external commercial borrowings (ECBs) and foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB) from abroad, but not paying service tax on it.

In 2013-14, DGCEI, Ahmedabad zone, had detected evasion of central excise duty and service tax to the tune of Rs 1,070 crore, up by 16% from 2012-13 when total detection of evasion was Rs 923 crore. Out of the total evasion, Rs 730 crore was in excise duty while in service tax, the evasion was Rs 340 crore.