Lok Sabha Question No. 387 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-02-03
Subject: Seizures after Demonetisation
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: K. C. VENUGOPAL, CHANDU LAL SAHU, RAMACHANDRAN MULLAPPALLY, CH. MALLA REDDY, ARVIND GANPAT SAWANT, OM BIRLA, FAIZAL P.P. MOHAMMED, M. K. RAGHAVAN, RANGASWAMY DHRUVANARAYANA, RAM KUMAR SHARMA KUSHWAHA, VIRENDER KASHYAP, LALLU SINGH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.387 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 3 RD  FEBRUARY, 2017

MAGHA 14, 1938 (SAKA)

## SEIZURES AFTER DEMONETISATION

## 387. SHRI K.C. VENUGOPAL:

SHRI CHANDU LAL SAHU:

SHRI MULLAPPALLY RAMACHANDRAN:

SHRI CH. MALLA REDDY:

SHRI ARVIND SAWANT:

SHRI OM BIRLA:

MOHAMMED FAIZAL:

SHRI M.K. RAGHAVAN:

SHRI R. DHRUVA NARAYANA:

SHRI RAM KUMAR SHARMA:

SHRI VIRENDER KASHYAP:

SHRI LALLU SINGH:

## Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the policy of demonetization has MET its goals to curb out black money and undisclosed assets including deposits in gold in the economy, if so, the details and the value of black money in form of old/new currency notes and gold seized during demonetization move;
- (b) the  total  value  of  notes  demonetized,  the  demonetized  currency  returned  back  as  on date;
- (c) whether the Government has seized new notes as part of its operations against black money hoarders during the course of demonetization and if so, the details thereof along with the  amount of black money and undisclosed assets unearthed during these raids, State/UTwise including Andhra Pradesh; and
- (d) the action taken/proposed to be taken by the Government against the offenders in this regard?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR FINANCE (SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR)

(a):  As  part  of  on-going  actions  against  black  money  post  demonetization,  the  Income  Tax Department conducted more than 1100 searches, seizures and surveys and issued more than 5100

notices, during the period 9 th November 2016 to 10 th January 2017, for verification of suspicious high value cash deposits in old high denominations. These actions led to seizure of valuables of more than Rs. 610 crore which includes cash of Rs. 513 crore. Rest of the seized valuables is mainly in the form of gold, jewellary and silver. Seizure of cash included new currency notes of about Rs 110 crore. The undisclosed income detected till 10 th January 2017 in these on-going investigations  was  more  than  Rs.  5400  crore.  Relevant  information  has  been  shared  by  the Income Tax Department with other law enforcement agencies such as Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation, for appropriate action.

(b):  As  on  November  8,  2016  there  were  17165  million  pieces  of  Rs.  500  and  6858  million pieces of Rs. 1000 in circulation. The value of Specified Bank Notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 returned to RBI and Currency Chests amounted to Rs. 12.44 lakh crore as of December 10, 2016.

(c): The particulars of seizures etc of valuables including new notes in the searches conducted by Income  Tax  Department  post  demonetization  are  submitted  in  answer  to  part  (a).  As  the territorial jurisdiction of Income Tax authorities does not necessarily coincide with boundaries of States/Union Territories, information in that format is not maintained.

(d):  Appropriate  action  against  offenders  is  an  on-going  process.  A  number  of  effective measures have been taken by the Government to verify cash deposits in old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes  made  in  the  banks  by  those  persons  in  whose  case  deposits  were  not  in  line  with  their existing profile based upon filings with the Income Tax Department. Such measures include everification process of cash deposits under 'Operation Clean Money' which includes collection of  relevant  information  on  cash  transactions,  collation  and  analysis  of  such  information, extensive use of information technology and data analytics tools for identification of high risk cases, expeditious verification of suspect cases mostly in a non-intrusive manner  and enforcement actions in appropriate cases, which include searches, surveys, enquiries, assessment of income, levy of taxes, penalties, etc. and filing of prosecution complaints in criminal courts, wherever applicable.

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