Chennai: Income tax investigators raided as many as 35 premises belonging to 7 finance firms in Salem, Karur and Tirupur since Thursday night, I-T sources said here on Friday. The raids were carried out after IT officials came to know that these firms were evading income tax in large scale despite lending money to people at high interest. The raids, which started on Thursday night, continued on Friday also and the investigators had detected tax evasion to the tune of Rs 100 crore by these firms, sources said here. The searches resulted in the seizure of unaccounted cash to the tune of Rs 5 crore from these firms.
Officials noted that the offices of the finance firms and residences of proprietors were raided. “Apart from the financing business, some of them were also found running grocery shops, real estate firms, bore well companies etc. All these places were also raided by the income tax teams from Coimbatore,” an IT official said. Some of the finance firms that came under income tax scanner were allegedly indulging in the business of usury and collecting interest, which is much higher than the recommended rates.
