Ethanol worth ₹95 lakh seized at Nhava Sheva port
MUMBAI: About 58,000 litres of undenatured ethanol (ethyl alcohol) worth ₹95 lakh was seized by the Customs officials at the Nhava Sheva port of Navi Mumbai on Tuesday.
The ethanol was being imported into the country by misdeclaring it to be for laboratory use to get the product cleared by paying just 10% customs duty, instead of 150% duty levied on the chemical, which is close to ₹1.5 crore.
The consignment belonging to Hemant Trading Company from Solapur, among others, was caught by the Mumbai Customs Zone 3 officials from the preventive unit of the Nhava Sheva port.
“The companies were found misusing the code under which chemical and pharmaceutical companies can import alcohol as raw material for a much lower duty. On Tuesday, we found 58,000 liters of undenatured ethanol worth ₹95 lakhs and carries a custom duty of almost ₹1.5 crores,” said a Customs official.
The government ends up losing ₹200 per litre of revenue as State Excise on such dubious imports, he added.
Traders are flouting the facility of the Central government for legitimate users of pharma and chemical labs in disguise by bringing ethanol into India and deceiving the Customs department of a basic Customs duty of 150%.
In the case of Hemant Trading Company, the officer informed that every month, more than 1,16,000 liters of pure ethyl alcohol is imported, which is declared as Lab Chem, and only 10% of customs duty is paid on it.
The company has imported many such consignments in the past five years, duping the Customs of crores of rupees in duty. Other than the consignment held on Tuesday, two more containers of alcohol ordered by the company expected from the United Kingdom will also be seized by the Customs.
In July last year, the Customs officials from Nhava Sheva sent a show cause notice to a company, asking them to explain their evasion of ₹34 crore in Customs duty. However, no prosecution was done in the matter.
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