Click to play videoNew Delhi: When one looks at imported marbles, one can hardly imagine that there could be crores of rupees of fraud in their import. But that is exactly what the CNN-IBN Special Investigation Team has found out when it hit upon a multi-crore-rupee scam in marble imports.
The marble industry is taking full advantage of the loopholes in the government policy for marble import to defraud the Government of customs duty, amounting to hundreds of crores.
The Centre has fixed a cap of 1.30 lakh metric tonnes for annual import of marble in order to protect the domestic marble industry. But the CNN-IBN Special Investigation Team has found out that way beyond the import ceiling, marble is being imported as limestone and granite, despite the government ban.
Government notifications clearly show that it is aware of the violations of the marble import policy. Yet the Commerce Ministry has not plugged the loopholes, resulting in losses of customs duty amounting to hundreds of crores.
The import of marble is allowed only against an import license issued by the Commerce Ministry. But CNN-IBN investigations have found that out of 49 licensees, 10 have got the permits without fulfilling the eligibility criteria.
Some licensees tried to justify the violations, saying the marble industry was being choked by import limits.
"When marble got restricted, all the factory owners told the government that we need raw material. 'We need marble to operate our plants and please issue licenses.' On that basis, these licenses were issued," Vivek Talwar, Managing Director of Nitco Tiles, told CNN-IBN.
But marble manufacturers like Deepak Khosla allege that 80 per cent of the import licenses issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade are fraudulent. "80 per cent of the licenses given for the marble blocks have been given to people who cannot process the material, who are just traders, who are just operators on papers," he claims.
"And this is happening at a cost to the exchequer. The government is losing approximately Rs 42 crore a year in customs duty and this has been going on for the past five years," Deepak Khosla, owner Marga Industry, points out.
It is also alleged that some licensees, with no infrastructure to process imported marble, simply sell their licenses to other manufacturers. When contacted, the DGFT refused to comment, saying the matter was sub-judice.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
TOP NEWS
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
