NEW DELHI: In six years since the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the government has detected 5,070 fraud cases of GST registration misusing PAN and Aadhaar details of people to claim input tax credit (ITC).

These 5,000-odd cases have led to the detection of Rs 27,426 crore of GST evasion. However the recovery has only been worth of Rs 922 crore in the past six years.

These figures pertain to the period between July 1, 2017 (commencement of GST regime) and June 30, 2023.

Among the states, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Tamil Nadu are the top three in terms of fraud cases of misuse of GST registration with 765, 713, and 632 cases detected, respectively.

In Maharashtra, Rs 3,889 crore worth of GST evasion was detected, while only Rs 171 crore was recovered. In Delhi, Rs 4,326 crore worth of GST evasion was detected, while recovery was only worth Rs 159 crore and in Tamil Nadu, Rs 1,877 crore worth of GST evasion was detected and the recovery was only a paltry Rs 44 crore.

Interestingly, between May 16, 2023 and July 9, 2023, an astounding 9,369 bogus entities have been detected by the government. Also Rs 10,902 crore worth of GST evasion was detected. However recovery has only been worth Rs 45 crore from these bogus entities.