Rs 70000000000 scam! Hyderabad Biryani Restaurant probe exposes MASSIVE racket, over 1 lakh restaurants across India to…

The report further added that this software is used by more than 100,000 restaurants across the country. It is estimated that these restaurants have concealed at least Rs 70,000 crore in sales since 2019–20.

Written by: Victor Dasgupta Edited by: Victor Dasgupta

Published: February 19, 2026, 10:34 PM IST

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https://www.india.com/news/india/scam-fraud-hyderabad-biryani-restaurant-investigation-income-tax-tamil-nadu-karnataka-telangana-maharashtra-gujarat-enforcement-directorate-8313997/ Copy

Hyderabad Biryani Restaurant probe exposes MASSIVE racket

New Delhi: During an investigation into a biryani restaurant chain in Hyderabad, a major tax evasion scam has been uncovered. The fraud in the food and beverage industry is likely to amount to thousands of crores of rupees. According to a Times of India report, the Hyderabad investigation unit of the Income Tax Department detected the irregularities after scanning 60 terabytes of data from a billing software system.

The report further added that this software is used by more than 100,000 restaurants across the country. It is estimated that these restaurants have concealed at least Rs 70,000 crore in sales since 2019–20. However, it is important to note that the officials have not yet calculated the tax and penalties on the undisclosed income. They stated that the software under investigation controls around 10% of India’s total restaurant billing software market.

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To examine data from over 1.8 lakh restaurants, the investigators used data analytics and AI tools, including generative AI. Out of the total Rs 70,000 crore in nationwide sales, data worth Rs 13,317 crore was allegedly deleted.

Here are some of the key details:

• Sales worth Rs 5,141 crore were concealed in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
• Physical and digital inspections were conducted on a sample of 40 restaurants in the two states
• The inspections revealed that nearly Rs 400 crore in sales had been hidden.
• The highest irregularities were reported in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.
• Sales data worth Rs 2,000 crore was allegedly deleted in Karnataka, Rs 1,500 crore in Telangana, and Rs 1,200 crore in Tamil Nadu.

As per the officials, some restaurants declared lower sales in their income tax returns but did not even bother deleting their records. Based on the sample analysis, authorities estimate that around 27% of total sales were concealed.

The data was accessed from the billing software provider company’s center in Ahmedabad and later analyzed at the Income Tax Department’s Digital Forensic and Analytics Lab in Hyderabad.