Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd has deposited Rs 300 crore with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). This comes after the agency discovered that the company had allegedly incorrectly declared imports of Remote Radio Head, an apparatus used for 4G telecom technology, claims the report by Indian Express.
The DRI began probing Samsung India's imports of Remote Radio Head in July. The agency discovered that the technology giant had misclassified the imports as telecom goods, which are exempt from charge. As part of their investigation, the DRI searched Samsung's offices in Mumbai and Delhi.
Following that, the investigation agency questioned their chief financial officer and a few other executives about the situation.
“The imports of Remote Radio Head were declared as eNodeB that attract zero duty. The short-paid duty on the consignments imported by Samsung India is over Rs 500 crore. However, on August 17, the company deposited Rs 300 crore towards their duty liability,” the source was quoted saying.
Under the free trade agreement (FTA) route, Samsung pays zero duty on telecom products made in its home country and Vietnam.
It's worth noting that most of the country's network gear providers are duty-free thanks to a free trade deal between South Korea and India.
Both countries have agreed to cooperate to develop, modernise, and extend telecom services and next-generation wireless networks.
Samsung Electronics is the country's largest 4G seller in terms of volume, as well as Reliance Jio Infocomm's sole 4G equipment provider.