Finance Minister Purbaya States 40 Steel Companies are Tax Evaders; Ministry of Industry Responds
The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) has responded to statements made by Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, who revealed that 40 steel companies have failed to meet their tax obligations. The potential loss in tax revenue is estimated to be as high as Rp 5 trillion.
Regarding this matter, Ministry of Industry Spokesperson Febri Hendri Antoni Arif supported the Ministry of Finance’s steps to regulate industrial companies that have not fulfilled their tax obligations. The Ministry of Industry is encouraging all manufacturing companies to comply with their tax payments to the state.
“In principle, the Ministry of Industry supports the Ministry of Discretion in collecting taxes from industrial companies,” said Febri during a press conference for the August 2026 Industrial Confidence Index (IKI) at the Ministry of Industry Office, South Jakarta, on Monday (31/8/2026).
Febri also urged industrial companies to fulfil their tax obligations to the government, specifically to the Ministry of Finance as the tax authority. However, he noted that the enforcement against companies that have not met their tax obligations would not necessarily disrupt the competitiveness of the national industry.
Therefore, Febri emphasised that the Ministry of Industry supports the government’s measures to collect tax obligations from industrial companies that have not yet met their requirements. “We support the Ministry of Finance in continuing to identify and collect from industrial companies that have not fulfilled their tax obligations,” he added.
The Ministry of Industry considers compliance with tax obligations to be a vital part of creating a healthy business climate, particularly to ensure that companies already fulfilling their duties are not at a disadvantage compared to non-compliant business actors.
He assessed that the competitiveness of Indonesia’s manufacturing sector remains quite strong. Furthermore, when companies decide to invest in Indonesia, taxation has become one of the considerations in calculating the level of competitiveness and investment feasibility.
“We believe that the competitiveness of our industry is quite strong—very strong, in fact,” stated Febri.