Chinese phone maker Oppo’s India unit on Wednesday said that it has a ”different view” on the charges mentioned in the show cause notice (SCN) sent by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and will take appropriate steps, including legal remedies.
”We have a different view on the charges mentioned in the SCN. We believe it’s an industry-wide issue many corporates are working on. Oppo India is reviewing the SCN received from DRI, and we are going to reply to the notice, presenting our side, and will be working further with the related government departments,” the company said in a statement.
To be sure, a show-cause notice (SCN) has been slapped by Finance Ministry on Oppo India on July 8 after the recovery of documents during searches on its premises that indicated willful misdeclaration in the description of some imports and remittance of royalty and license fees to various MNCs, including those based in China.
During an investigation of Oppo Mobiles India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corporation Ltd, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has detected Customs duty evasion of around Rs 4,389 crore, the ministry said had in a statement.
In response, the company also added, ”Oppo India is a responsible corporate and believes in the prudent corporate governance framework. Oppo India will take appropriate steps as may be needed in this regard including any remedies provided under the law.”
Oppo India is engaged in the business of manufacturing, assembling, wholesale trading, distribution of mobile handsets and accessories thereof across India. It deals in various brands of mobile phones, including Oppo, OnePlus and Realme.
”After completion of the investigation, a show-cause notice has been issued to Oppo India demanding Customs duty amounting to Rs 4,389 crore. The notice also proposes relevant penalties on Oppo India, its employees and Oppo China, under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962,” the Ministry had said.
In December last year, the Income Tax department too had conducted searches against Chinese handset manufacturing companies, including Oppo, and their linked persons and claimed to have detected alleged unaccounted income due to violation of the Indian tax law and regulations.