THIRUVANANTHAPURAM — In a major crackdown against tax evasion, the Intelligence and Enforcement wings of the Kerala State Goods & Services Tax (SGST) Department jointly launched “Operation Aurum”, detecting a primary turnover evasion of ₹70 crore across gold trading establishments in Kerala.
The department has already recovered ₹2.87 crore in taxes and penalties during the initial phase.
The Operation Details
Duration: The synchronized raid commenced at 3:00 PM on July 30 and continued through the morning of July 31.
Scale: Inspections were carried out simultaneously across 79 locations, including jewelry stores, branches, and residential premises belonging to 37 taxpayer entities.
Target Industry: The crackdown specifically targeted establishments involved in buying old gold ornaments, refining them into gold bars/new ornaments, and trading them back to jewelry retailers.
Preparation: The SGST Intelligence wing conducted extensive planning, intelligence gathering, and secret surveillance over several months prior to executing the operation.
Further Evasion Expected
Officials gathered transactional data and documents from previous financial years during the searches. The department expects to uncover significantly higher tax evasion upon deeper audit and scrutiny of the seized records.
Commissioner’s Appeal to Citizens
The State Goods & Services Tax Commissioner emphasized that the public pays GST included in the final price when purchasing gold from registered traders.
”It is the duty of every citizen to demand a proper bill to ensure that the tax collected from consumers reaches the government exchequer. This revenue forms the backbone of development projects and public welfare schemes in our state.”
The Commissioner urged citizens to insist on tax invoices for all goods and services and affirmed that strict investigative action against tax evaders will continue unabated.
