The Income Tax Department is conducting extensive search operations at the residential and office premises of senior management of Hero MotoCorp, including its Chairman and MD&CEO Pawan Munjal over alleged tax evasion.
Confirming the development, a senior tax official told Business Standard that about 25 locations have been covered since Wednesday morning in Delhi and Gurugram and other parts of north India. Some more locations linked to the two-wheeler giant could be also searched, the official said, while refusing to give further details.
Sources in the department said that the action is based on the intelligence inputs it has received against the company and some senior officials of the company. The searches are underway and may continue till Thursday, another person added.
Hero MotoCorp didn’t comment when contacted by the paper.
The two-wheeler maker is a dominant market leader in India with over 50 per cent share in the domestic motorcycle market.
Hero MotoCorp is led by Pawan Munjal and has expanded its presence to 40 countries.
Who is Pawan Munjal? Meet the man who took Hero MotoCorp to 40 countries
Pawan Munjal is the Chairman and Chief executive officer (CEO) of Hero MotoCorp. Pawan Munjal and family have “real time net worth” of $3.2 billion, according to Forbes.
Hero MotoCorp Chairman Pawan Munjal.
Hero MotoCorp Chairman and CEO Pawan Munjal’s office and house were raided by the Income Tax Department on Wednesday. Multiple premises linked to the top officials of the company were also covered in the search, news agency ANI reported.
Pawan Munjal is the Chairman and Chief executive officer (CEO) of Hero MotoCorp which is the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters.
Munjal’s father, late Brijmohan Lall Munjal, was the founder of Hero Group.
Pawan Munjal and family have “real time net worth” of $3.2 billion, according to Forbes.
Hero parted ways with Honda in 2011. Subsequently, Munjal led Hero MotoCorp’s global expansion.
Led by Munjal, Hero MotoCorp sells its products in over 40 countries across Asia, Africa, Central and South America and the Middle East.
The company has eight world-class manufacturing facilities. Out of the total, six are located in India and one each in Colombia and Bangladesh.
The company has a research unit in Jaipur and a centre in Germany, as per Forbes.
Munjal holds executive positions at industry bodies – Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
Munjal is also on the board of Munjal Acme Packaging Systems Private Limited, Pan Mining Private Limited, Bahadur Chand Investments Private Limited, Hero InvestCorp Private Limited, Indian School of Business, Hero Future Energies Global Limited, and Rockman Industries Limited.