Spurious regns: More firms to come under CGST radar

Ludhiana: In a major development in the GST departments’ ongoing drive against suspicious and fake registrations, the number of such entities in the city is expected to rise from 4,000 to almost double in the next few days. The completion of scrutiny of all 88,000 registrations under the Ludhiana Division of State GST may take another 10-15 days.
A state GST department official, on condition of anonymity, said a majority of the 4,000 suspicious registrations, were applied for under and registered by the central GST (CGST) department. He said this was a result of CGST’s faceless assessment system as when the application for GST registration is filed with the department, it can go to any office of the CGST across the country for further processing. The officers sitting in far-away states cannot ensure the authenticity of the application therefore fraudsters can easily deceive them by filing fake documents. The official added, “In stark contrast, any applications for GST registration filed with state GST are bound to reach the local offices. In most of the cases, the local officials and staff conduct extra checks. Besides discreetly visiting the business premises, they also verify the firm and owner from local sources.”
The official further said the number of suspicious and fake registrations under the department’s radar is likely to double in the coming days.
Meanwhile, unlike other sectors, furnace industry seems to be content with the ongoing drive against fake GST registrations.
KK Garg, president, Induction Furnace Association of North India, said, “Finally after our repeated requests to the centre government, the drive has been initiated.”