I-T Dept Raids Truecaller’s India Offices In Tax Evasion Case

The Income Tax (I-T) department raided the Indian offices of Swedish caller identification platform Truecaller over alleged tax evasion on Thursday (November 7). 

Tax officials raided Truecaller’s offices to check documents regarding certain charges of tax evasion, including those pertaining to transfer pricing (TP) issues, PTI reported.

Confirming the development, the company said in a statement that it is assisting the authorities to the full extent and will cooperate moving forward. 

Further, Truecaller said that it is not subject to any tax investigation in India outside the routine tax audits. “Truecaller’s group financial statements have always received an unqualified audit opinion. Truecaller has always paid all taxes due in India and all regions where it operates,” it said in a statement. 

It is pertinent to note that India is the largest market for the Swedish company. In its financial disclosure for July-September 2024, the company revealed that its monthly active user base rose 12% to 413.5 Mn from 367.8 Mn in the year-ago period. Of this, 70.6% or 291.8 Mn users are from India.

“In Q3, we achieved our highest increase in user numbers to date, adding 16 Mn new monthly users. Growth is broad-based, occurring across multiple countries and regions,” the company’s CEO Alan Mamedi said.

The company has been focusing on broadening its offerings in India over the years. Earlier this year, Truecaller launched an AI-powered call recording feature in India for iOS and Android users. 

For the time period, Truecaller’s net sales zoomed 14.7% year-on-year to $42.75 Mn from $37.27 Mn it made in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Its gross profit also jumped 18% to $32.9 Mn in the quarter. 

The IT raids come a day after the company’s cofounders Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam announced that they will be stepping down from their roles on January 9 and handing the command to its India MD and CPO Rishit Jhunjhunwala. 

Both the cofounders will continue to serve as advisors to the company after Jhunjhunwala takes charge as group CEO of Truecaller. 

Jhunjhunwala has been working for Truecaller for almost a decade now. He joined the company in 2015 as a vice president of product. However, his association with the telecommunication space dates back to 2000, when he set up his Indian mobile VAS startup Verity Technologies. 

After seven years of running the startup, he joined mobile internet tech company July Systems as VP-strategic programs. He worked with the company till 2011 and left to set up his own venture, email service provider CloudMagic.

“While we will continue to provide advice and support, we believe it is essential to have a leader at the helm who embodies our company’s core values and is prepared to lead us into the future. With that in mind, we are pleased to announce that Rishit Jhunjhunwala will be transitioning into the role of Global CEO,” the founders’ email to the company’s employees about the transition read.