Stories
Haier, Godrej, Blue Star Faulted for Fake E-Waste Recycling Claims, $714K Tax Credit Fraud
C
CNBC TV18•30-09-2026, 17:18
Haier, Godrej, Blue Star Faulted for Fake E-Waste Recycling Claims, $714K Tax Credit Fraud
- •Indian tax authorities accused Haier, Godrej & Boyce, and Blue Star of failing to detect fabricated e-waste recycling claims by a spurious recycler, WEEE-PRO Resource Recovery Solutions.
- •The companies allegedly relied on these fake claims to meet green goals and wrongly claimed $714,000 in tax credits for services never rendered.
- •The 550-page notice detailed lapses, including digitally altered photographs used as evidence, with one executive admitting to adding clouds to images.
- •The incident has prompted internal reviews across India's $95-billion consumer electronics market, with companies like Samsung and LG also competing in the sector.
- •Godrej and Blue Star stated they would respond to the notice and are committed to compliance, with Blue Star ceasing dealings with the vendor; Haier India pledged cooperation.
Key Questions Answered
Indian tax authorities faulted the appliance makers for relying on fabricated documents from a spurious recycler to meet green goals without verifying actual e-waste recycling, and for wrongly claiming $714,000 in tax credits for services never rendered.
A little-known Indian recycler called WEEE-PRO Resource Recovery Solutions was identified in the notice as the issuer of the compliance certificates and fabricated documents.
According to the tax notice, Haier wrongly claimed $367,900, Godrej & Boyce claimed $159,700, and Blue Star claimed $186,600, bringing the total amount to approximately $714,000.
