Overview
- Punjab’s finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema, who spoke Monday, said investigators found systemic under-reporting across dhabas, eateries, restaurants and fast-food outlets, with 882 establishments under probe.
- In checks completed so far, officials examined 239 cases and detected about ₹50 crore in suppressed turnover, creating a ₹2.54 crore tax liability, and they have already recovered ₹2.02 crore.
- Teams are matching billing-app records with GST filings and will pull UPI and other digital payment trails to confirm actual receipts, using analytics from the Tax Intelligence Unit and the State Investigation and Preventive Unit.
- Patterns point to cash-heavy segments and key districts, with dhabas linked to about ₹10 crore in suppression, coffee and chai bars around ₹8 crore, fast-food outlets over ₹6 crore, and Mohali showing the highest gaps followed by Jalandhar and Ludhiana.
- Authorities report no discrepancies in 52 venues, recovery work continues, and the government has warned of strict action as it moves to complete verification within roughly a month.