New Delhi, Aug. 5 -- Over 91,000 cases of GST evasion and 44,000 instances of input tax credit (ITC) fraud have come to light in the past five years with the sharpest spike in 2024-25, the Centre informed Parliament on Monday. Responding to a question by Lok Sabha MP Ve Vathilingam, Union minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed the House that the total cost of GST evasion cases detected was Rs.7.07 lakh crore, of which Rs.1.29 lakh crore was recovered through voluntary deposit. Similarly, the cost of ITC fraud cases was Rs.1.78 lakh crore and Rs.12,831 crore was recovered. In 2024-25 alone, authorities detected 30,056 GST evasion cases amounting to Rs.2.23 lakh crore. The government recovered a mere Rs.26,799 crore. The same year, 15,283 ITC fraud cases worth Rs.58,772 crore were detected, but only Rs.2,675 crore was recovered. A year-wise breakdown of GST evasion shows 20,582 cases worth Rs.2.3 lakh crore in 2023, 15,562 cases worth Rs.1.31 lakh crore in 2022, 12,574 cases worth Rs.73,238 crore in 2021, and 12,596 cases worth Rs.49,384 crore in 2020. From 2020 to 2023, Rs.1.01 lakh crore was recovered. ITC fraud cases in 2023 stood at 9,190 worth Rs.36,374 crore, followed by 7,231 cases worth Rs.24,140 crore in 2022, 5,966 cases worth Rs.28,022 crore in 2021, and 7,268 cases worth Rs.31,233 crore in 2020, with total recoveries amounting to Rs.10,156 crore....