Lok Sabha Question No. 882 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-14
Subject: Black Money
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: JAY PRAKASH NARAYAN YADAV, ANIRUDHAN SAMPATH, KRISHNAN NARAYANASAMY RAMACHANDRAN, SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 882

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 14 TH  DECEMBER 2018 AGRAHAYANA 23, 1940 (SAKA)

## BLACK MONEY

## 882: SHRI JAI PRAKASH NARAYAN YADAV:

DR. A. SAMPATH:

SHRI K.N. RAMACHANDRAN:

SHRI SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether the Government has consulted various countries to find out the total black money deposited in  various  foreign  banks  by  the  Indian  nationals  in  those  countries  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof, country/person-wise; (b) the estimates of the Government about the black money stashed by the Indians in foreign countries; (c)  whether the Government had constituted any special monitoring team to get complete information of black money of Indians stashed in the country and  abroad and to bring it back into the Government exchequer; (d)  if  so,  the  details  of  amount  of  black  money  brought  back  and  remains  to  be  brought  back  into  the Government exchequer from within the country as well as from the foreign countries during the last three years as on date; (e) the details of names of the countries which have entered into agreement for bringing back the black money; and (f)  whether the expected goals are not being achieved, if so, the details thereof and the other concrete steps taken by the Government in this regard since last four years along with the number of people
- held and acquitted during these years?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI SHIV PRATAP SHUKLA)

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(a): India has actively participated in the efforts to forge a multi-lateral regime for automatic sharing of financial  account  information  to  assist  the  global  efforts  for  combating  tax  evasion.  This  Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) based on Common Reporting Standard (CRS) has commenced from 2017 enabling India to receive financial account information of Indian residents in partner jurisdictions. India also entered into an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with USA in 2015 enabling receipt on automatic  basis  financial  account  information  of  Indian  residents  in  USA  for  the  calendar  year  2014 onwards.

Indian  Government  has  been  proactively  engaging  with  foreign  governments  under  the  relevant provisions  of  Double  Taxation  Avoidance  Agreements/  Tax  Information  Exchange  Agreements  / Multilateral  Convention  on  Mutual  Administrative  Assistance  in  Tax  Matters/SAARC  Multilateral Agreement (in short tax treaties) to obtain information including banking information on request basis in specific cases.

The information received under tax treaties is confidential and its use and disclosure is governed by the confidentiality provisions of the relevant tax treaties.

(b): There are no official estimates of black money stashed by Indians in foreign countries.

(c): Yes Madam. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Black Money has been constituted in May, 2014 under  the  Chairmanship  and  Vice-Chairmanship  of  two  former  Judges  of  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  to monitor investigation into  the  cases  involving  substantial  black  money  stashed  within  the  country  and abroad.

(d):  There is no official estimate of black money brought back or remains to be brought back into the Government exchequer.

However, during the one- time compliance window of 3 months under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign  Income  and  Assets)  and  Imposition  of  Tax  Act,  2015,  648  declarants  filed  declarations disclosing undisclosed foreign assets worth Rs.4164 crores. An amount of about Rs.2476 crore has been collected as tax and penalty in such cases.

Further, as a result of systematic investigations against Indians holding bank accounts in HSBC bank in Switzerland, undisclosed income of about Rs.8465 crore has been brought to tax on account of deposits made in unreported foreign bank accounts.  Tax demand of about Rs.5452 crore has been raised which includes demand in protective assessments.

Sustained  investigations  conducted  in  the  cases  revealed  by  International  Consortium  of  Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) have led to detection of more than Rs.11,010 crore of credits in the undisclosed foreign accounts so far.

In  the  Panama Paper Leaks cases, undisclosed foreign investments totaling Rs. 1543 crores have been detected so far.

The preliminary outcome of search and seizure cases in the last three years is as under:

| Financial Year   |   Total Assets seized (in Rs. Crore) |   Undisclosed income admitted u/s 132(4) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (in Rs. Crore) |
|------------------|--------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2015-16          |                               712.32 |                                                                               11226 |
| 2016-17          |                              1469.62 |                                                                               15496 |
| 2017-18*         |                               997.17 |                                                                               15754 |

- (e): India has treaty network with 148 countries including USA, UK, Switzerland, Mauritius, Singapore, British Virgin Island, etc., which facilitates exchange of information for tax purposes. The information exchanged is utilized to conclude the investigations and bring to tax the unaccounted income and assets of the resident taxpayers held abroad.
- (f):  Government  has  taken  various  measures  to  achieve  the  expected  goals,  some  of  which  are enumerated below:
- (i) The Government has taken a number of steps to exchange information about black money stashed by Indians in foreign countries and bring it to tax. These steps, inter alia, include the following:
-  Putting in place the necessary domestic legislation and entering into international agreements for exchange of information on request and automatic basis. Information received under tax treaties  is  used  to  bring  to  tax  unaccounted  income  and  assets  of  resident  taxpayers  held abroad.

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-  Enactment of a comprehensive law - 'The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015' to specifically deal with black money stashed away abroad.
-  Constitution of the Special  Investigation Team (SIT) on  Black Money under Chairmanship and  Vice-Chairmanship  of  two  former  Judges  of  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  to  monitor investigation into the cases involving substantial black money stashed within the country and abroad.
-  Constitution of Multi-Agency Group (MAG) consisting of officers of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for investigation of recent revelations in 'Panama Paper' and 'Paradise Paper' leaks.
- (ii)  Government has also enabled attachment and confiscation of property equivalent in value held within  the  country,  where  the  property/proceeds  of  crime  is  taken  or  held  outside  the  country  by amending the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 through the Finance Act, 2015.
- (iii) The details of prosecution launched for willful attempt to evade taxes during the last four years is as under:

| F.Y     | Number of prosecutions   |
|---------|--------------------------|
| 2014-15 | 272                      |
| 192     | 2015-16                  |
| 445     | 2016-17                  |
| 2017-18 | 1098                     |

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