Income Tax department conducts raids on Chinese phone companies OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Oppo: Report
As per a new report coming from The Economic Times, the Income Tax (I-T) department is conducting search operations at OnePlus, Oppo and its Chinese distribution partners, and at Xiaomi’s offices across various cities including in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Rajkot.
The search operation is said to be based on intelligence input on concealed income and tax evasion. Oppo and Vivo account for around 25 percent of the market share in the country. On the other hand, Xiaomi is the top smartphone manufacturer in India.
Commenting on the development, an official said, “different directorates are carrying out search operations on these companies”. The raids began early in the morning today and are said to continue till the end of the day. The report also notes that the “premises of senior executives and the offices of these companies are being searched”.
However, the IT department isn’t the only one involved in the search operations. As per the report, it is joined by the ED that has also been conducting similar raids on these Chinese smartphone manufacturers. Oppo’s Chinese distribution partner was recently penalized in hundreds of crores by the ED in Hyderabad.
The Chinese smartphone manufacturers haven’t commented on the matter yet, but it is likely that the raids are being conducted over security concerns raised by the central government.
On the other hand, the government of India is working on stopping Chinese OEMs like Oppo and Vivo from operating through their Chinese partners. The government primarily wants these Chinese phone companies to manufacture products through local companies instead.
As per the report, the raids are underway since Tuesday. Additionally, the IT department has also conducted raids at contract manufacturing companies Rising Star India and Dixon’s units in Southern India factories.
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