New Delhi :  GST authorities will soon initiate a pilot for risk-based biometric-based Aadhaar authentication of suspicious registration applicants in Puducherry, reported in media.

To complete the investigations against suspected registrations the special joint drive against fake registration may be extended beyond July 15, said Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra.

For long, tax authorities have been using OTP-based authentication for establishing identity of applicants. 

According to Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC), tax officials are now going to go in for biometric authentication under which person in suspicious cases will be asked to go to an Aadhaar centre to have his biometrics verified to ascertain his identity.

This step has been initiated after several cases of obtaining fake registrations were detected by Central and State Tax administrations.

In one such recent case detected by Gujarat State Tax authorities, it was found that a few fraudsters had obtained fake GST registrations on the basis of PAN and Aadhaar number of persons from economically weaker sections without their knowledge, reported BusinessLine.

It was revealed that phone number on the Aadhaar cards of these persons were fraudulently modified. They were lured by offering them money and false promises of benefits under government schemes.

The conmen then took them to the nearest Aadhaar Seva Centre and got their Aadhaar Cards linked to a dummy mobile number by using their thumb impressions.

After such cases came to light, the GST Council earlier this week recommended a pilot to be conducted in Puducherry for risk-based biometric-based Aadhaar authentication of registration applicants. 

“Andhra Pradesh also expressed its intent to join this pilot after the system’s readiness is tested in Gujarat and Puducherry,” a Finance Ministry statement issued post Council meeting said.