GST dept to be trained to detect revenue leakages: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday said that training will be imparted to the employees of the GST department to teach them how to use technology to detect revenue leakages. 

Addressing the gathering after inaugurating the GST Parisar, a newly built residential complex for the employees of the GST in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, she said that this training will focus on better utilization of artificial intelligence, Data DeepDive, IoT (Internet of Things) to use technology to detect where revenue leakages are happening.

She lamented that mischief-makers are claiming wrong refunds through shell companies or with the "rare black sheep" in the system; causing loss to the exchequer.

She opined that if training is given to junior officers in particular then, it will be absolutely easy to see where tax evasion is happening and also to



check where fraudulent claims are coming from, and how to plug them.

The Finance Minister said that matter related to training has been discussed with the Revenue Secretary and Chairman CBIC. She informed me that soon the officers will be put on training in different parts of the country which will make them feel comfortable using technology to assist in plugging leakages.

Ms. Sitharaman lauded the performance of the GST employees in boosting the revenue collection month after month.

The finance minister said, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a special mention in a meeting of the council of ministers on how the economy is in a sound state and also about the stunning numbers in GST collection, month after month. The meeting, she said, was even attended by secretaries of the Government of India.