India's service tax evasion, aided mainly by sectors like telecom and industrial construction, has jumped by a mammoth 200 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal touching Rs 1,651 crore.

The probe in many cases, according to sources, has led the enforcement agencies to a chain of evasions, beginning from service tax and excise to income tax and value-added tax (VAT) as non-registering of transactions on account books has been the modus operandi in a number of cases.

According to a report of the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI), the agency "detected and registered 83 cases of service tax evasion amounting to Rs 1651.13 crore, as compared to 117 cases involving service tax amounting to Rs 522.20 crore during the corresponding period last year, depicting a surge of 216 per cent in the amount of evasion detected".

Top sources in the Directorate said the amount of evasion is likely to exceed in the same period as investigations into some high-profile evasion cases are still underway.

The report also tabulated duty evasion on the central excise front to the tune of Rs 227.43 crore as compared to the detection of Rs 114.64 crore during the same period last year, statistically indicating a jump of 98 per cent in cases of evasion. (PTI)