The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) is the apex intelligence and investigative agency for matters relating to violation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The DGGI has been detecting tax frauds to the tune of more than Rs. 1 lakh crore during the financial year 2022-23 and recovering more than Rs. 20 thousand crore of such evaded tax.
To combat complex financial crimes and prevent tax evasion, the DGGI has established its first digital forensic lab in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, which was formally handed over to the DGGI last week. The lab is equipped with advanced data handling and retrieval tools, as well as the latest data analytics technology to support the investigation and prosecution of tax offenders.
The Ahmedabad lab is the first of five digital labs to be set up by DGGI across the country. The other four labs will be based in New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. The labs in Delhi and Chennai are expected to commence operations before March, while the ones in Mumbai and Kolkata are expected to be operational by June.
The digital forensic labs will help the DGGI in collecting, preserving and analysing digital evidence from various sources, such as computers, mobile phones, hard disks, pen drives, cloud storage, social media platforms, etc. The digital evidence will be used to establish the identity, location, transactions, communications and associations of the tax evaders.
The digital forensic labs will also enable the DGGI to take preventive anti-evasion measures by using data analytics to identify potential risk areas, patterns, trends and anomalies in the GST data. The data analytics will help in generating intelligence inputs, alerts and leads for further action by the DGGI officers.
The establishment of the digital forensic labs is a significant step towards enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the DGGI in enforcing compliance with the GST law and safeguarding the revenue interest of the government.