India’s Income Tax Department this week conducted searches at offices of a group firm of Walmart’s Flipkart and local food delivery startup Swiggy for alleged tax evasion by their third-party vendors, sources told Reuters. Over Rs 950-crore tax evasion by food delivery start-up Swiggy and Instakart (a group firm of Flipkart) has been detected following last week’s survey operations in Bengaluru.
The searches began on Wednesday at Swiggy and Instakart’s offices in the southern city of Bengaluru, the sources said. The search at the office of Instakart, e-commerce giant Flipkart’s logistics arm, concluded late on Thursday, one of the sources said. At least 20 income tax officials visited the Instakart office to inspect invoices issued to its vendors, the source added. Third-party vendors were also connected with concealment of taxable income reported I-T Department citing initial findings. In a statement, Flipkart said it was providing the officials with “all the required information and are extending our full co-operation”, adding it was in full compliance with all tax and legal requirements. Swiggy, backed by South African internet giant Naspers, too said it was in full compliance with tax and legal mandates.
