The Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei has been accused of manipulating account books to reduce its taxable income in the country. The accusation comes in after an Indian tax investigation into China’s Huawei Technologies. According to a report from Reuters, India’s Finance Ministry, without naming any particular company said a major telecoms group did not account for the income of Rs 4 billion which is about $52 million in its books and showed expenses of Rs 4.8 billion that the firm failed to justify.
Chinese Telecom Infrastructure Manufacturers Under Suspicion
No comments were made by a Huawei spokesperson in India in response to the accusations. The allegations from the Indian government comes in after income tax authorities raided Huawei's office premises in New Delhi, neighbouring Gurugram and tech hub Bengaluru last month, along with houses of senior executives. The finance ministry had earlier stated that further investigations are in process.
The accusations come in just a day after it was reported that Huawei is confident in doing long-term business in India. The tensions between India and China on the border has already resulted in the Indian government not allowing Chinese telecom vendors to become a part of the future infrastructure of connectivity. In February, India blocked access to 54 mobile apps mostly of Chinese origin, citing security concerns.
In addition to this, Huawei has been the centre of a global campaign as the US has asked allies to exclude the company from their 5G networks over spying concerns. The company has denied it is a security risk. In India, the government had not included Huawei when it named foreign network equipment suppliers allowed to carry out 5G trials in what is one of the world's biggest markets by the number of mobile phone users.
It is not just India, but many other countries are excluding Chinese telecom gear providers from their 5G and new 4G networks. This is all because of the alleged ties between Huawei and the Chinese government. Huawei has cleared its stance by saying that it doesn’t reveal the data it has to any government organisation.
