Samsung Electronics has paid Rs 300 crore to the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) as customs duty after an investigation was conducted by the agency into alleged duty evasion on the import of 4G radio equipment.

After the investigation, the DRI had charged the company Rs 500 crore for wrongly classifying the 4G radio equipment under the zero-duty category, reported The Economic Times.

Samsung Electronics made an initial payment of Rs 300 crore on Wednesday and is expected to pay the balance of Rs 200 crore in due course, according to a person quoted in the ET report.

Last month, the DRI conducted searches in Samsung’s offices in Mumbai and Delhi over suspected customs duty evasion on imports of network equipment.

Read | Samsung offices searched by DRI over suspicion of customs duty evasion

The searches were conducted as officials believed that Samsung routed equipment made in a non-FTA (free trade agreement) country through South Korea or Vietnam, which are FTA countries.

Under the FTA route, Samsung enjoys zero duty on equipment manufactured in the home base and Vietnam.

DRI’s investigation found that the company imported equipment and claimed an exemption notification that’s not applicable to the equipment, making them liable to pay 20 per cent duty.