A Jaipur-based resort has filed a criminal complaint against OYO and its founder-CEO Ritesh Agarwal, accusing the company of massive billing irregularities that allegedly triggered a staggering Rs 2.66 crore GST notice.
The resort, Samskara, claims that OYO grossly exaggerated the property’s revenue by generating thousands of fake bookings, pushing up the resort’s reported turnover and landing it in hot water with tax authorities.
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Madan Jain, who represents the resort, registered an FIR at Jaipur’s Ashok Nagar police station last week. The charges include cheating, breach of trust, forgery, and criminal conspiracy under India’s newly implemented Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
According to Jain, Samskara had signed a one-year agreement with OYO back in April 2019 to list the resort on the platform. Despite this limited scope, OYO allegedly filed data showing transactions from fiscal years beyond the contract—both before and after it. Jain says that the resort only generated Rs 10.95 lakh in bookings through OYO during the partnership and had duly paid GST on that amount. In contrast, OYO is said to have reported revenue of Rs 22.22 crore on behalf of Samskara, which then became the basis for the GST department’s show-cause notice.
Jain insists that the resort never received any money close to that figure and was blindsided by the inflated numbers filed with tax authorities.
A Broader Pattern?
This isn’t an isolated incident. Husain Khan, President of the Hotel Federation of Rajasthan, revealed that nearly 20 hotels in the state have received similar GST notices. He accused OYO of using inflated invoicing to pad up booking volumes, potentially leaving small hoteliers exposed to significant legal and financial risks.
While OYO has not yet issued a public response to the FIR, the allegations—if true—raise serious questions about how tech-driven aggregators are managing partner data and reporting revenues.
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As the case unfolds, it’s likely to rekindle debate around accountability in India’s online travel and hospitality ecosystem—especially when smaller businesses end up facing the brunt of opaque backend practices.
