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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Forty coal importers under the DRI scanner for over-invoicing

Forty coal importers under the DRI scanner for over-invoicing

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published Published on Apr 9, 2016   modified Modified on Apr 9, 2016
-The Hindu Business Line

Firms of Adani, Anil Ambani, Essar, JSW Groups and some PSUs being probed

NEW DELHI:
The Finance Ministry and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) are said to have stepped up investigations into the alleged over-invoicing of coal imports by 40 companies — both in the public and private sector — to the tune of Rs. 35,000 crore.

“It is an issue that has been going on for the past two-three years and now we are doing a full investigation,” said a person familiar with the development.

The importers being probed include five firms of the Adani Group, the Anil Ambani Group, Shashi Ruia’s Essar Oil and Essar Power, JSW Steel as well as public sector firms such as MMTC Ltd, NTPC Ltd and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board.

The DRI is understood to have issued a nationwide alert asking customs offices to look into all coal imports starting this fiscal. The Finance Ministry is also understood to be looking into the issue and will take a decision based on the final DRI report.

“The Finance Ministry has been apprised. It will try to work on measures to address the problem,” said the source.

According to sources, the DRI found a number of companies artificially inflating the price of their coal imports from Indonesia by as much as 100 per cent to get a higher power tariff and also “siphon off” funds.

The inflated invoices were issued by intermediary invoicing agents in Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong and British Virgin Islands, among other jurisdictions, according to the DRI alert notice.

The average price of Indonesian coal with a gross calorific value of 3,800-4,200 kCal/kg ranged between $38 and $49 a tonne on free-on-board (FOB) basis, according to most international indices. Adding freight and insurance charges, the CIF (cost insurance and freight) rate of Indonesian coal should be $60-55/tonne during this period.

But invoices were inflated by up to 100 per cent.

If there has been over-invoicing, it would have resulted in electricity consumers paying more, analysts said, adding that typically coal costs are a pass through for power generators and are factored in during tariff revisions by regulators.

Every dollar increase in the per tonne cost of coal results in 4-5 paise per unit increase in electricity tariff. The over-invoicing could have pushed up the tariffs by 80-90 paise per unit.

Reacting, an Essar Power spokesperson said: “Essar Power Gujarat Ltd strongly denies that it has overvalued imports of coal to inflate the power tariff. In fact, Essar Power was the first company to introduce a reverse bidding e-auction process to ensure that coal is procured at the most competitive price in a transparent manner.”

The Hindu Business Line, 8 April, 2016, http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/forty-coal-importers-under-thedri-scanner-for-overinvoicing/article8452274.ece


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