India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has accused Vivo Mobile of evading taxes worth ₹22.1 billion ($280 million). The DRI discovered custom duty evasion and issued a “show cause” notice to the company – a legal request for the company to justify its actions.
Vivo Mobile is accused of “willful mis-declaration in the description of certain items imported”. Evidence of this was discovered after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided 44 locations belonging to the company. Some assets were seized during the investigation.
According to data from the authorities, the tax evasion allowed Vivo Mobile to transfer nearly $8 billion to its parent company in China over the course of 5 years, which works out to almost half of Vivo Mobile’s revenue.
Vivo is not the only smartphone company under scrutiny – Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has confirmed that the authorities are also investigating Oppo and Xiaomi.
