Samsung India Electronics receives show cause notice from DRI: Report

According to a media report, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has issued a show cause notice to Samsung India Electronics (SIEL) and accused the local unit of South Korea's Samsung Electronics of evading import taxes worth ₹1,728.47 crore by misclassifying a product. The agency has also asked for a clarification why it should not recover the money as duty along with the interest. The notice was issued by Nhava Sheva Customs, early this week.

The agency has also asked for an explanation on why a penalty should not be imposed on senior management of the company.

Apart from the SIEL, DRI, in its notice, has also issued notice to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and an associate director who was questioned during the probe, as per the report.

The report also revealed that the notice by the agency has also asked why the department should not adjust ₹300 crore deposited by SIEL towards payment of differential duty.

The report further states that both the SIEL and PwC have been given 30 days to reply to the notice.

In its notice, DRI mentioned that SIEL has classified networking devices as remote radio heads to avail undue exemption of basic customs duty, as per the report.

The agency sent Samsung India and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which was hired to classify the network equipment, a show cause notice, the report said.