Cadbury Excise Duty Evasion: Over 570 Crore Demand Against Confectionary Giant

Mondelez India in a statement said: "The company is examining the Commissioner's order and will challenge the same in appeal, as we firmly believe that we have correctly claimed exemption of excise duty."

The company said "the issue relates to applicability of excise exemption in respect of our Unit II of our Baddi plant, which has been manufacturing our much loved products since 2009".

"The issue is one of interpretation and it will be inappropriate on our part to discuss the details externally at this time since the matter is sub-judice and in the legal domain," it added.

As per the central government norms, the area-based exemption for new industrial units of firms in Himachal Pradesh provide full exemption from excise duties for specified goods for a period of 10 years. However, for availing such exemption the unit should have been established before March 2010 to claim such exemption. During investigation, the DGCEI officials had found that Cadbury India Ltd claimed excise duty exemption for its new unit in Sandoli village in Baddi relating to a period even before it came into existence, the sources said.

According to a certificate of Department of Industries, Himachal Pradesh, the unit was established after March 31, 2010, they said It was further found during the course of investigation that mandatory licenses or permissions from local bodies concerned for setting up the unit were not obtained before the last date of March 31, 2010, the sources claimed.

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