Vivo sent Rs 62,476-cr worth turnover to China to avoid getting taxed in India: ED

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ A whopping Rs 62,476 crore has been “illegally” transferred by smartphone maker Vivo to China in order to avoid payment of taxes in India, the Enforcement Directorate said Thursday, as it claimed to have busted a major money laundering racket involving Chinese nationals and multiple Indian companies. This money is almost half of Vivo’s turnover of Rs 1,25,185 crore, it said without stating the time period of the transaction.

The crackdown on the leading Chinese company came after the federal probe agency found that three Chinese nationals, all of whom “left” India during 2018-21, and one other person from that country incorporated as many as 23 companies in India in which they were also helped by a Chartered Accountant, Nitin Garg.

Among the foreigners, one identified as Bin Lou was an ex-director of Vivo and, according to the ED, he left India in April, 2018. Two others — Zhengshen Ou and Zhang Jie — left the country in 2021, it said. “These (23) companies are found to have transferred huge amounts of funds to Vivo India. “Further, out of the total sale proceeds of Rs 1,25,185 crore, Vivo India remitted Rs 62,476 crore or almost 50 per cent of the turnover out of India, mainly to China,” the ED said in a statement.