Page 13 - Banking Finance February 2024

ROUNDUP

tected "unaccounted cash sales" of represents a pivotal step towards build- vestment journey and turnaround time
about Rs 1,000 crore after it recently ing an Artificial Intelligence-driven through technological intervention.
raided the Polycab group, a prominent cross-border remittance and payments The regulator has also reached out to
wires, cables & electrical items manu- technology landscape, presenting glo- public sector enterprises and regional
facturer, the CBDT and official sources bal opportunities. This will enable us to rural banks to push pension penetra-
said. deliver fast, reliable, and cost-effective tion and is trying to broad base the
remittance solutions, reducing friction, subscriber base by encouraging more
Unaccounted cash of more than Rs 4
crore was seized and more than 25 at a global scale," said Sharma. small businesses and women investors,
bank lockers were put on restraint af- He also lauded GIFT City for serving as he added.
ter the searches were launched an "exemplary innovation hub for PFRDA had set a target of enrolling 13
against the group on December 22 last cross-border activities" that would en- lakh corporate and individual subscrib-
year, the Central Board of Direct Taxes able foreign investors to maintain for- ers under NPS in FY24, of which it has
said in a statement. eign currency accounts. enrolled over 5.3 lakh subscribers so
far.
It said a total of 50 premises in
Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad and Pension schemes added
Nashik in Maharashtra, Daman, Halol 97 lakh subscribers in GST evasion of over Rs.
in Gujarat and Delhi were covered. 44,000 crore detected
CBDT did not name the group but offi- 2023: PFRDA head
Finance ministry said that suspected
cial sources confirmed it to be Polycab Pension schemes under the National
India. Polycab India issued a clarifica- Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension tax evasion related to Goods and Ser-
vices Tax (GST) credit of more than Rs.
tion to stock exchanges earlier in the Yojana (APY) added 97 lakh new sub-
day terming reports of "tax evasion by scribers in 2023, taking the total sub- 44,000 crore has been detected since
the company circulating in media" as scriber base to 7.03 crore as of Decem- last May in a drive against non-existent
tax payers.
"rumours". ber 31, 2023, according to Pension
The drive unearthed 29,273 bogus
Fund Regulatory and Development
Paytm to invest Rs. 100 Authority (PFRDA) Chairman Deepak firms involved in the suspected tax
credit evasion leading to arrest of 121
crore in GIFT City Mohanty. persons, the ministry said in a state-
One97 Communications that owns The number of subscribers were up 16 ment.
Paytm announced that it will invest Rs per cent on year. Of the total subscrib- To curb GST frauds and to increase
100 crore in Gujarat International Fi- ers, 5.3 crore subscribers invested in compliance, central and state tax au-
nance Tec-City (GIFT City) to build a the Atal Pension Yojana, which had an thorities are carrying out a focused
global financial ecosystem. This an- AUM of Rs. 33,034 crore as of Decem- drive against bogus GST registrations
nouncement came ahead of the Vi- ber 31. and issuance of fake invoices without
brant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, "The subscriber number largely comes any underlying supply of goods and
scheduled to be inaugurated by Prime from the small ticket APY scheme. For services.
Minister Narendra Modi on January 10. NPS, the number is 1.41 crore, of
This effort has saved Rs. 4,646 crore of
The company said that it would make PFRDA Chairman Deepak Mohanty which Rs. 3,802 crore is by blocking of
the investment over a period of time which 90 lakh subscribers are Centre input tax credit and Rs. 844 crore by
and after necessary approvals. and state government employees and way of recovery, the ministry said.
slightly over 51 lakh are from the cor-
Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar
porate sector," Mohanty said.
Sharma said that GIFT City is set to Govt extends PLI for Auto
become a global financial hub putting However, there has been a dip in
India on the world map for innovation. online subscriptions, because of which sector by a year
"The strategic investment in GIFT City PFRDA is working on reducing the in- The Ministry of Heavy Industries issued

12 | 2024 | FEBRUARY | BANKING FINANCE