Income Tax Dept conducts searches at Hetero Group

The searches are being conducted at the firm's headquarters, some of the manufacturing facilities and offices here, and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, they said.

''The department has recovered some documents and seized some computers hard disks which will be analyzed if there is any possible tax evasion,'' the sources told PTI. Company officials could not be reached for their comments.

Hetero shot into the limelight after the group signed several agreements and undertook the development of various drugs such as Remdesivir and Favipiravir to treat COVID-19.

Hetero is one of the major global suppliers of APIs (including cytotoxics) to the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture formulations and new-generation products in India and abroad. The city-based Hetero has over 25 manufacturing facilities located in India, China, Russia, Egypt, Mexico, and Iran.

Hetero last month said it had received Emergency Use Authorisation from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for its biosimilar version of Tocilizumab for treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized adults.

The Rs 7,500 crore pharma major is one of the firms that has tied up with the Russian Direct Investment Fund to manufacture COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V in India.