Supreme court disallows Bharti Airtel from seeking Rs 923 crore GST refund

The Supreme court on Thursday disallowed Bharti Airtel from seeking Rs 923 crore Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund.

Bharti Airtel had sought GST refund of Rs 923 crore for the July - September 2017 period, arguing that it had paid excess tax of Rs 823 crore as GSTR-2A form was non-operational during the time.

In May 2020, Delhi High Court had allowed Bharti Airtel plea, directing the government to verify and refund the amount claimed. In July 2020, the centre moved the Supreme Court and challenged the grant of refund.

Centre in its plea had argued that Bharti Airtel had under reported input tax credit for the period between July - September 2017. Bharti Airtel had, meanwhile, argued that it had paid excess tax of Rs 823 for July - September.

In another development, Bharti Airtel's CEO has warned customers about rising cases of cyber-frauds, citing a recent instance of a fraudster who posed as company executive and under the guise of updating KYC form, tricked a user into revealing bank details to transfer large amount from the bank account. In an email outreach to subscribers, Gopal Vittal, CEO of Airtel urged users to be vigilant against such cases of cyber fraud that are becoming "alarmingly frequent".