back to article Indian tax authorities raid offices of Chinese smartphone maker Vivo

India's Department of Revenue has acted against scams it alleges originate in China. The Department's Directorate of Enforcement on Wednesday raided 48 premises belonging to Vivo Mobiles, the Indian outpost of the smartphone vendor that, according to Counterpoint Research, holds 15 percent of India's smartphone market. The …

  1. lglethal Silver badge

    It's always hilarious to hear China demanding other countries provide a fair environment for their companies to trade in.

    Pot. Kettle. Black.

    I'd really love a country to turn around and demand all the same rules from Chinese firms that China demands of foreign firms. Local ownership, shared IP, etc. The stink that China would kick up would be hilarious to watch...

    1. UCAP Silver badge

      he stink that China would kick up would be hilarious to watch...

      Not only that, but China would be completely oblivious to the universe-sized irony-factor such behaviour would entail.

    2. Trollslayer
      Flame

      If places were turned the result would be the same.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Gold?

    "Gold? Oh, that gold. Well I thought everyone knows that we use gold edge connectors... 2kg?... well we are an expanding company"

    1. Jimmy2Cows Silver badge

      Re: Gold?

      "It's for personal use, officer. Once a year I buy gold in bulk, and spread it out over the next year. It's not a tax dogde in any way."

    2. Sandtitz Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Gold?

      "The gold was just resting on my account"

      1. David 132 Silver badge
        Pint

        Re: Gold?

        That poor boy was supposed to go to Lourdes!

        (Icon: DRINK!)

    3. An_Old_Dog Silver badge

      Re: Gold?

      No, no, it's just a gift for a friend, who coincidentally happens to have a senior position in the Indian government. Nothing to see here, really. *wink*

  3. IGotOut Silver badge

    We don't want no Chinese scams here...

    ....bloody foreigners taking our business away.

  4. RM Myers
    Coat

    Why does a smartphone maker have 2kg of gold bars in the office?

    Because they couldn't afford 3kg?

  5. Tron Silver badge

    Why does a smartphone maker have 2kg of gold bars in the office?

    Gold is used for dowries in India. Maybe they were planning a merger.

  6. fxkeh

    Petty cash?

    Next time they'll be quicker in gifting those gold bars to friendly Department of Revenue officials, like the locals.

  7. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

    Next step...

    ...tightening up the rules on IP transfers and licencing so foreign companies aren't paying out their entire profit margin just to licence their trading name to head office in some tax haven and thus avoiding paying any taxes in the actual market they are trading in. After all, just because Starbucks (for example) is a trademark in the US doesn't mean the US company should own "Starbucks" in India or the UK. Selling goods into a country is one thing, and may well allow you to own a trademark as a foreign entity, but once you have a physical presence in a country, then that physical presence should include the locally registered trademarks. Especially since, for tax reasons, the local version of Starbucks will be a local and separate business from the parent company.

    1. katrinab Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: Next step...

      The answer is to tax the foreign licence-holder on income earned within the country, and require the company paying the licence to deduct tax at source and pay it over.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why is 2kg of gold a big deal?

    A quick DDG says that it's worth about $111,000. One pallet of smartphones is worth ten times that. Funneling money out of the country and calling that a business loss is certainly fair game for the tax folks to target, but why the emphasis on the gold?

    1. johnfbw

      Re: Why is 2kg of gold a big deal?

      Because there is very few reasons to have gold lying around, virtually none in an office.

      It is likely it was received or to be given as a bribe. Very difficult to bribe someone with multiple phones - the value significantly decreases after the first one.

      Additionally the gold may have been imported without paying the appropriate import dues.

    2. katrinab Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: Why is 2kg of gold a big deal?

      2kg is about 64.3 troy ounces.

      1 troy ounce of gold is $1741.85 at the time of writing this.

      So that makes it $112,003.57.

      Obviously you wrote your thing yesterday when market rates were likely a bit different, so seems about right.

  9. Rainer

    2kg isn’t that much

    I mean, it’s like 110k CHF here.

    The report fails to mention if it was two kilo-bars or multiple smaller bars?

    Also, as with everything from China: did they check that these are in fact solid gold bars or rather gold-plated tungsten bars?

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like