Goods and Services Tax (GST) sleuths detected taxevasion worth almost ₹82,000 crore by 78 real money online gaming firms in 2023-24, but that translated into a voluntary recovery of just ₹53 crore.

The online gaming industry is reckoned to have evaded the highest GST levies last year, even as overall detection of indirect tax evasion surged to almost ₹2.02 lakh crore, double the evasion tracked in FY23, as per data from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI).

Almost half of the 6,000-odd cases detected by the apex GST intelligence agency last year pertained to non-payment of tax by firms resorting to clandestine supplies or undervaluing items, while 20% of cases related to fake input tax credits.

About 4,520 of those cases resulted in voluntary payments of ₹26,605 crore, the DGGI said in its annual report for FY24. For context, evasion worth ₹1.01 lakh crore was detected in about 4,900 cases in 2022-23, and taxpayers chose to voluntarily pay up dues of ₹20,713 crore in about 3,700 cases.

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) chairman Sanjay Kumar Agarwal highlighted the sectoral analysis of the tax evasion trends, which suggests that cases have been booked in new and complicated areas such as e-commerce, digital services, online gaming, banking and insurance.

Apart from online gaming, the DGGI identified Banking, Financial and Insurance Services (BFSI), Works Contract Services, and Pharmaceuticals, as the top evasion prone services sectors. A total of 171 cases of tax evasion worth almost ₹19,000 crore were detected in the BFSI industry, with ₹317 crore recovered voluntarily.

Among goods, almost 2,000 cases of evasion were found in iron, copper, scrap and alloys businesses, with dodged levies of almost ₹17,000 crore.

About ₹2,300 crore of this had been forked out by taxpayers voluntarily.

Pan Masala, Tobacco, Cigarettes and Bidis continue to be prone to evasion, with 212 cases worth ₹5,800 crore detected last year, followed by Plywood, Timber and Paper (evasion worth ₹1,200 crore), Electronic items (₹1165 crore), and Marble, Granite and Tiles (₹315 crore). Barring Plywood, Timber and Paper businesses that voluntarily paid up ₹730 crore of dues, the voluntary tax recovery from the other three sectors was fractional, at just ₹138 crore out of total evasion of around ₹7,300 crore.