Indian Tax Sleuths Launch Massive Raids Against Chinese Mobile Manufacturers

The raids across India come amid an ongoing border standoff between the two Asian giants, which saw a deadly face-off in June 2020. Following last year's clashes, the Indian government banned over 200 Chinese mobile applications, including TikTok, citing national security concerns.

India's tax department is carrying out massive raids on Chinese mobile manufacturing entities such as Xiaomi, Oppo, and OnePlus, which have a combined market share of over 46 percent in India.

The operations are underway in at least 24 premises related to senior executives and offices of these companies in Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru.

Sources in the Finance Ministry told Sputnik that the searches are taking place after the department received "credible intelligence inputs" suggesting these firms were evading taxes by cooking their books.

These Chinese firms allegedly produced illicit purchase bills to reduce their tax liability.

@rishhikesh reports that the govt @PMOIndia Income Tax Dept carrying out searches at the premises linked to Chinese mobile companies across the country,I wish my Prime Minister raids the land /area which PLA is occupying Hazaaron khwaishein aisi ki har khwahish pe dam nikle …….

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) December 22, 2021

In April, the Bombay High Court ordered ByteDance, the developer of the video-making platform TikTok, to deposit $11 million in India's leading state-owned banks as part of a case related to tax evasion.

In 2020, shortly after a violent border clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley, the income tax department searched a dozen premises linked to Chinese individuals, claiming more than 40 bank accounts were created in various dummy entities to evade more than $133 million in taxes.

The Chinese Embassy in New Delhi urged the Indian government and relevant departments to enforce the "law impartially to ensure Chinese citizens and companies' safety and legal rights".