Samsung this week was ordered to pay a penalty of $601 million (~RM 2.66 billion) to the Indian government after it was found to have evaded paying tariffs on telecommunications equipment brought into the country. Samsung received a warning notice in 2023 after the equipment was sold to local telecommunications company Reliance Jio.
The payment of almost RM 3 billion consists of a fine of 44.6 billion Rupees (~RM 2.3 billion) for unpaid tariffs and a 100% penalty and the rest is a fine to be paid by seven Samsung executives who were found to be involved in the process of evading tariffs.
In India, tariffs of up to 20% are imposed on telecommunications equipment imported from abroad. In an official statement issued by Samsung, they said they would appeal in court. According to them, the issue involves the interpretation of the classification of imported goods.
Recently, Indian authorities have been investigating several foreign technology companies accused of trying to evade taxes. In 2022, the Indian Finance Ministry alleged that Oppo and Xiaomi were involved in attempts to evade taxes worth ~RM 2.274 billion and ~RM 3.2 billion, respectively.