Tackling China: India tightens screws on Chinese companies, rejects BYD’s $1 bn EV factory proposal
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Cautiously refusing to fall into China’s traps, India is further tightening the screws on its companies, has rejected Chinese automaker BYD Co’s proposal to set up a USD 1 billion factory for the production of electronic vehicles in India, and is recovering dues from other Chinese companies that evaded taxes.
Warren Buffet-backed Chinese automaker BYD intended to set up a plant in partnership with Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd, the media reported on Saturday.
BYD had submitted a USD 1 billion investment proposal to build electric cars and batteries in India in partnership with a local company. India’s Department of Commerce, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had sought opinions from other departments on the investment proposal, the report said.
“Security concerns with respect to Chinese investments in India were flagged during the deliberations,” the report quoted an Indian official as saying.
Besides, India has found Chinese mobile phone companies evading Rs 9,000 crore worth of tax in India, of which Rs 1,629 crore have been recovered, the government informed Parliament on Friday.
Chinese smartphone makers, including Oppo Mobile, Vivo India, and Xiaomi Technology, were found involved in this tax evasion.
Data shared by Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar in the Rajya Sabha showed tax evasion of around Rs 9,000 crore, comprising customs duty and GST, between 2018-19 and 2022-23.
According to the data, Oppo Mobile India Pvt Ltd was found evading Rs 5,086 crore in taxes which includes Rs 4,403 crore in customs duty and Rs 683 crore in the form of GST.
Vivo evaded taxes worth Rs 2,923.25 crore comprising Rs 2,875 crore in customs duty and Rs 48.25 crore in GST.
Tax evasion of Rs 851.14 crore was detected in the case of Xiaomi Technology India Pvt Ltd, comprising Rs 682.51 crore in customs duty and Rs 168.63 crore in GST.
Chandrasekhar shared that customs duty evasion of Rs 4,389 crore was detected in 2019-20 in the case of Oppo Mobile India Pvt Ltd, out of which Rs 450 crore had so far been recovered.
Vivo India Mobile Pvt Ltd was found evading customs duty of Rs 2,217 crore out of which Rs 72 crore was recovered in 2020-21.
In 2019-20, Xiaomi Technology India Pvt Ltd was also found evading custom duty of Rs 653.02 crore, of which Rs 46 lakh has been recovered. In 2022-23, Vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd was found evading Rs 658 crore.
According to the official data, Lenovo evaded Rs 42.36 crore worth of GST.
The government recovered Rs 1,214.83 crore from Oppo, Rs 168.25 crore from Vivo, and Rs 92.8 crore from Xiaomi.
Chandrasekhar said that the cumulative turnover of Chinese mobile handset companies in 2021-22 was estimated to be Rs 1.5 lakh crore in India.
“The total direct employment generated by them in their manufacturing operations is more than 75,000. They also have sales and operational workforce of around 80,000 workers,” the minister said.
