Key Points:
Wintrack Inc. announced that it was halting operations due to harassment by Chennai Customs.
It accused the authority of corruption,
Netizens came out in support of Wintrack, sharing their own experiences with customs.
Taking cognizance of the details and evidence provided by Wintrack, the Finance Ministry has initiated an inquiry into the matter.
A Tamil Nadu based importing company, Wintrack Inc., shuttered its operations on Wednesday, 1 October 2025, due to alleged harassment by Chennai Customs. In its announcement on social media, Wintrack accused the import authority of bribery and corruption. This prompted a twitter war between the company and customs officials, resulting in the Finance Ministry launching an inquiry into the matter on Thursday, 2 October 2025.
“This difficult decision comes after repeated and unjustified harassment by officials at Chennai Customs over the past 45 days. Earlier this year, when we exposed instances of bribery, we faced retaliatory actions that severely impacted our ability to conduct business. Despite our best efforts, the sustained pressure has made it impossible to continue operations,” the announcement stated.
Chennai Customs replied to the allegations the same day on social media, stating, “This importer has an established pattern of making unsubstantiated allegations of corruption and bribery on this platform, only to delete such posts once factual rebuttals are provided by this department.” It added that the dispute which prompted these allegations had to do with non-declaration and misclassification of goods by Wintrack.
This prompted a social media war between the officials and the company, which was aided by many angry consumers. In an explosive reply to Chennai Customs, Wintrack founder, Prawin Ganeshan, named a senior official, claiming he had threatened him.
Chennai Customs replied with another post, providing details of the meetings, events and orders, stating that all actions taken by the organization were procedural and followed due process.
Ganeshan followed this up by exposing three customs officers who he alleged had demanded bribes to clear a shipment of goods for his wife’s company. He backed up his claim with screenshots and documentary evidence.
By this point, the thread had exploded, prompting intervention from higher bodies. Taking cognizance of the events, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) issued a reply: “The allegations relate to misdeclaration and misclassification. Chennai Customs has already responded. All facts will be examined and necessary action will be taken as warranted by law.”
But netizens came out in support of Wintrack, putting forth their own experiences of harassment by customs officials. Prominent personalities – businessmen, politicians, journalists – began to give their takes on the allegations. As the situation spiraled, the Union Finance Ministry issued a statement.
“The Government has taken cognizance of the matter raised by M/s Wintrack Inc (Chennai),” it read, “The matter is being dealt with utmost seriousness, and the Government is committed to taking appropriate and expeditious action in accordance with the law. It is reiterated that the Government is committed to enhancing ease of doing business.”
The ministry said that a senior official from the Department of Revenue has been deputed to conduct a fair, transparent, and fact-based inquiry into the matter.
See Also: Crorepatis swindle wages as corruption rampant in MGNREGA works in Coimbatore, Tiruppur
Social Media reactions
As of Friday, 3 October 2025, Wintrack’s announcement post has over six million views and 8,000 retweets. Many users have replied to the post highlighting their own experiences of facing corruption from customs authorities.
"Can completely relate,” one user commented, “We've faced 3 months of harassment just to get a device into India. Multiple justifications given, only to be stonewalled with rejections. We've given up talking to Mumbai Customs given their arbitrary stances that change each time for the same device."
Another added, “I've paid bribes in the form of phones for BIS certificates on numerous occasions. It is a common practice to give a dozen phones to officers during a launch for 'smooth operations.'”
Countless other users revealed how they were demanded to pay bribes ranging from a few thousand to lakhs of rupees. Others were threatened with indefinite delays. Even more instances came to light as the news spread to other social media outlets.
Some bigger names weighed in on the issue too.
“Corruption remains rampant across the system and most companies simply comply as part of the “price of doing business,” Congress MP Shahi Tharoor said, “It must not be like this if the country is to grow and prosper.”
“You have failed to stamp out systemic corruption in our ports. Please stop this,” ex-Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai said, addressing Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, “You are our FM and our PM Narendra Modi had promised us corruption-free rule.”
Wintrack and Customs
Winteck Inc. is a logistics company established in 2021 that imports products from Thailand and China. The company marketed itself to consumers and small businesses, promising doorstep delivery of international goods.
Ganeshan came out with his first allegations of corruption by Chennai Customs in June 2025, when he alleged that an officer had halted his shipment while demanding a ₹1.5 lakh bribe. The official response was that the company had not provided the necessary documents.
In its announcement, Wintrack had alleged 45 days of relentless harassment by the authorities that prompted it to halt its operations. This series of events began in mid-August, when customs began halting Wintrack’s shipments in retaliation for its founder’s earlier comments. This made their business unsustainable.
In the series of tweets that exposed the alleged corrupt practices of Chennai Customs, Ganeshan alleged that his wife had to pay a bribe ₹2.1 lakhs to clear a shipment worth $6,993 for her company - ₹80,000 each to Shed and SIIB officers, and ₹50,000 to an Faceless Assessment Officer in Mumbai. He added that the officers had initially demanded ₹90,000 each but offered him a ‘discount’.
He attached screenshots of chats and transactions detailing the amounts in question. On 2 October 2025, he posted a video on the timeline of events leading up to Wintrack’s closure – the caption read, “I will stay alive, I will survive, never give up. On this Gandhi Jayanthi, let's all join together to reduce, abolish corrupt hands. I have lost my health, got stress, still little left.”
Since the announcement, Wintrack has updated its X bio, which now reads, “Exposed bribery @ Chennai Customs,Faced revenge. Lost business.Corruption won this battle,They can destroy our business,not our voice.”
It is worth noting that Chennai Customs is currently under investigation by the CBI in a separate multi-crore bribery case. Whether the current allegations are true or not, it is hard to imagine that all the people airing out their grievances are lying. This points to bribery being a systemic problem in the institution – and in all Indian institutions, as many of us know from personal experience.
Whatever the result of the Finance Ministry’s investigation into this matter, greater steps must be taken to tackle corruption on a national scale. Otherwise, individual investigations will remain meaningless – like putting a band-aid on a severed limb. [Rh/DS]
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