Flipkart, Swiggy reject all allegations of tax evasion

BENGALURU: Flipkart and Swiggy on Friday denied any wrongdoing, two days after Income Tax (I-T) officials surveyed their premises over alleged tax irregularities of their third-party vendors.

A government official had on Thursday said the surveys were in connection with alleged wrongful input tax credit.

“This (allegations of fraud and tax evasion) is factually incorrect and we vehemently deny any allegation. The investigation by the GST Authority is on the alleged GST default by two manpower service providers of InstaKart and should not be misconstrued as being related to any wrongdoing by us. As required by the GST Authority, we have participated in the investigation proceedings and submitted several documents and information in relation to the investigation,” e-commerce company Flipkart said.

For Flipkart, the vendors are resource management and staffing solution companies Merlin Facilities Pvt. Ltd and Surya Team Management Pvt. Ltd, which allegedly evaded taxes through bogus input tax credits.

The promoters of both companies have fled the country, said one person aware of the matter seeking anonymity.

On Wednesday, about 25 I-T officials visited Flipkart’s office at Embassy Tech Village in Bengaluru to survey payments made by one of its group companies, InstaKart Services Pvt. Ltd, to these third-party vendors.

I-T officials also visited the offices of food delivery company Swiggy, wrapping up their survey on Friday.

“Swiggy strongly denies the allegations that it has been complicit in any wrongdoings by Greenfinch with respect to both it being a fictitious entity and availing bogus input tax credit. We further deny all the baseless and inaccurate statements in relation to this matter,” Swiggy said.