Rs 70,000 crore fake biryani billing prompts nationwide tax raids at restaurants
India Today
Routine checks at restaurants in Hyderabad last November led tax officers to spot discrepancies between customer footfall and lower sales recorded in billing software, prompting a deeper investigation.
The Income Tax Department has launched nationwide searches on major restaurant chains across India weeks after investigators uncovered a massive tax evasion racket involving concealed turnover estimated at nearly Rs 70,000 crore at a Hyderabad outlet. The ongoing action follows the discovery of manipulated billing software allegedly used by restaurants to suppress sales and evade taxes since the 2019–20 financial year.
Officials said the searches are aimed at examining financial records, point-of-sale (POS) systems and billing data across multiple states.
The investigation began with routine checks at a few restaurants in Hyderabad in November last year. During inspections, tax officers noticed a mismatch between the number of customers present at outlets and the lower sales figures recorded in the billing software.
What initially appeared to be an isolated irregularity soon raised broader concerns when investigators found that several establishments were using the same billing platform.
Officials later discovered that the software is used by more than one lakh restaurants nationwide and accounts for nearly 10 per cent of India’s restaurant market.
The finding significantly widened the scope of the probe and prompted the department to expand its investigation to restaurant chains operating in multiple cities.
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Routine checks at restaurants in Hyderabad last November led tax officers to spot discrepancies between customer footfall and lower sales recorded in billing software, prompting a deeper investigation.