Govt Faces ₹8.8 Lakh Crore Revenue Hit from GST Evasion & ITC Frauds in Five Years [Read Order]

The country has suffered a huge ₹8.8 lakh crore revenue loss over the last five financial years due to GST ( Goods and Services Tax ) evasion cases and fraudulent Input Tax Credit ( ITC ) claims, according to official data.

The numbers showed the scale of tax evasion despite improvements in GST collections and enhanced use of technology-driven enforcement.

The data showed that between FY 2020-21 and FY 2024-25, authorities detected 91,370 GST evasion cases, involving a total tax implication of ₹7,07,942 crore, while 44,938 ITC fraud cases amounted to another ₹1,78,541 crore in detected tax evasion.

Together, the combined value of evasion and fraudulent ITC claims reached ₹8,86,483 crore, indicating the huge revenue leakage in the GST system. As per the data, there is an increase in GST evasion cases the last two years, rising 20,582 cases in FY 2023-24 to 30,056 in FY 2024-25. However, the voluntary deposits by offenders totalled over ₹1.29 lakh crore for GST evasion and ₹12,831 crore for ITC fraud during this period.

When analysing the data, even though FY 2024-25 witnessed a huge number of GST evasion cases, the amount detected is low compared to FY 2023-25. In FY 2024-25 itself, the GST department detected Rs. 2,30,332 crores evasion.

Coming to the ITC fraud cases, FY 2024-25 shows a huge amount of fraud amounting to Rs. 58,772 crores. In the FY 2022-23, the ITC fraud was the lowest in the past 5 years, amounting to Rs. 24,140 with 7,231 cases. However, the lowest cases detected was in FY 2021-22 totalled to 5,966 amounting to loss of Rs. 28,022 to the exchequer.

Out of Rs. 8.86 lakh crores of GST evasion and ITC fraud, the department managed to deposit voluntarily an amount of Rs. 1,42,006 crores. However, Rs. 7,44,477 crores is a huge loss to the government, which is still in the hands of the evaders.

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