Tax officials inspect Adani Group facility in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh

Though the excise and taxation department termed the inspection a routine exercise, search at Adani Wilmar Ltd store at Parwanoo in Solan district being seen as a pressure tactic; company says no irregularities found in operations

The Himachal Pradesh excise and taxation department carried out an inspection of stocks at Adani Wilmar Ltd in Parwanoo town of Solan district on Wednesday night.

Adani Wilmar has a warehouse of grocery items at Parwanoo in Solan district that supplies goods to the civil supplies department and the police department in Himachal Pradesh. (Representational photo)

Though the department termed it a routine exercise, the raid on a subsidiary of the beleaguered Adani Group comes at a time when the Congress-ruled state government is mediating talks to end a two-month-long deadlock between the company that shut its two cement plants after a dispute over freight rates with truck unions.

Adani Wilmar has a warehouse of grocery items at Parwanoo that supplies grocery goods to the civil supplies department and the police department in Himachal Pradesh.

Discrepancies, says official; company denies irregularities

Excise and taxation department officials said that last year the company’s business stood at ₹135 crore. However, the entire goods and services tax (GST) input was adjusted through tax credit but no payment was made in cash. “We found many discrepancies while scrutinising the records. The raids are still continuing,” the joint commissioner, excise and taxation, south zone, GD Thakur said.

This raised suspicion and the excise and tax department decided to search the company’s documents and inspected the stock, he said.

Adani’s FMCG arm Adani Wilmar released a statement clarifying that the Himachal Pradesh GST department has not found any irregularities in operations and dealings of the company. “One of Adani Wilmar’s depot warehouse at Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh, was visited by GST officials yesterday (Wednesday) evening. The staff extended their support during this routine inspection, fully co-operating with the officials and local authorities,” the Adani Wilmar spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday.

The spokesperson noted that the visit of GST officials at the company’s depot warehouse was just a routine one where no irregularities were spotted. “The officials did not find any irregularities in the operations and dealings conducted by the company. We would like to clarify that the concerns specific to GST payments in cash, citing GST law under Rule 86B, the company is not required to pay the tax liability,” the statement said.

“We would like to emphasise that this was a routine inspection carried out by the relevant authorities and there was no raid as previously stated or reported in the media,” the spokesperson said, adding the company was committed to conducting business in a responsible and transparent manner, and all its operations are in full compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

At present, operations at the depot, the spokesperson said, are functioning normally after the GST officials’ inspection.

There are seven companies of the Adani Group doing business in Himachal Pradesh, including Adani Agri Fresh Ltd, which has controlled atmosphere (CA) stores in the apple-growing belt besides the two cement plants at Barmana and Darlaghat. Both cement units have been closed since December 14 after a dispute with truck unions over freight rates. The closure of the two cement plants has affected more than 25,000 families linked to employees.

Truckers up the ante

The Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government, which had been mediating between the company and the truckers, hasn’t taken any action against the Adani Group yet it clarified that the interest of the truck unions and local people is of “paramount importance”.

The Adani Group has now begun direct talks with the truck operators to resolve the impasse. During two rounds of talks held on Wednesday, the company offered a rate of ₹9.01 per kilometre that the truck operators rejected. The truck operators said that earlier they had offered the company ₹10.20 freight rate but the group was adamant that now it would not take less than ₹12.

“We had a long meeting with the officials of the Adani Group that continued late into the night. We failed to reach an agreement on the rates,” said Jai Dev Kaundal, the president of Solan District Transport Co-operative.

The Adani Group shut down its two cement plants on December 14, alleging the high freight rates made the business unviable. It wanted the truck unions to cut the rates to ₹6.5 per km per tonne.

The truck operators have now threatened a stir if the company fails to agree to their demand. They have called a maha panchayat on February 24 to chalk out their strategy against the closure of the cement plants.