The Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) has detected two cases of tax evasion by Cadbury India, the Minister of State for Finance, S.S Palanimanickam, said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

The Minister said, “two cases of tax evasion by Cadbury India Ltd have been detected by DGCEI during the years 2009-10 to 2012-13, up to October 31, 2012.”

One case is related to evasion of Central excise and the other is concerned with evasion of service tax. He said Central excise duty evasion by the Baddi (in Himachal Pradesh) unit of Cadbury India was detected in 2011-12. It involves evasion of approximately Rs 200 crore. The matter is under investigation, Palanimanickam said. The other case, related to service tax evasion of Rs 13.43 crore by Cadbury India, Mumbai, has been adjudicated and a demand of Rs 11.75 crore was confirmed along with a penalty of equal amount.

He said Rs 12.08 crore tax with Rs 0.53 crore interest was realised during investigation.

In response to the Finance Ministry’s answer, a Cadbury India spokesperson said, “A compliant and ethical corporate culture, which includes adhering to laws and regulations in the countries in which we operate, is integral to our success. To that end, we are fully co-operating with the authorities on this enquiry. Since the investigation currently is under way, it will be inappropriate on our part to discuss the details at this time.”

shishir.sinha@thehindu.co.in