Lok Sabha Question No. 4528 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-08-12
Subject: Recovery of Black Money
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: RAMESH CHANDER KAUSHIK

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No.4528 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 12 TH  AUGUST, 2016

SHRAVANA 21, 1938 (SAKA)

## RECOVERY OF BLACK MONEY

## 4528.  SHRI RAMESH CHANDER KAUSHIK:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a) the  efforts  made  so  far  by  the  Government  to  bring  back  black  money  along  with  the success achieved in this regard and the reasons for its delay;
- (b) the time by which the entire black money is likely to be brought back; and
- (c) if not, the reasons therefor?

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

(a)  to  (c): The Government has taken various measures to effectively deal with the issue of black money,  particularly  black  money  stashed  away  abroad.  Such  measures  include  policy-level initiatives, more effective enforcement action on the ground, putting in place robust legislative and administrative  frameworks,  systems  and  processes  with  due  focus  on  capacity  building  and integration of information and its mining through increasing use of information technology.

Recent major initiatives in this regard include -

(i) Constitution of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Black Money under Chairmanship and Vice-Chairmanship of two former Judges of Hon'ble Supreme Court;

(ii)  Enactment  of  a  comprehensive  law  -  'The  Black  Money  (Undisclosed  Foreign  Income  and Assets)  and  Imposition  of  Tax  Act,  2015'  which  has  come  into  force  w.e.f.  01.07.2015  to specifically and more effectively deal with the issue of black money stashed away abroad;

(iii) Making willful attempt to evade tax etc under the Black  Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 a scheduled offence under PMLA, 2002;

(iv) Enabling 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;

(v)  Proactively  engaging  with  foreign  governments  with  a  view  to  facilitate  and  enhance  the exchange of information under Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs)/Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs)/Multilateral Conventions etc;

(vi) Proactively furthering global efforts to combat tax evasion/black money, inter alia , by joining the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement in respect of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI)  and  having  information  sharing  arrangement  with  USA  under  its  Foreign  Account  Tax Compliance Act (FATCA);

(vii)  Introducing  the  Benami  Transactions  (Prohibition)  Amendment  Bill,  2015  to  amend  the Benami  Transactions  (Prohibition)  Act,  1988  with  a  view  to,  inter  alia,  enable  confiscation  of Benami property and provide for prosecution;

(viii)  According  high  priority  to  the  cases  involving  black  money  stashed  away  abroad  for investigation  and  other  follow-up  actions  including  prosecutions  in  appropriate  cases;  (ix)  While focusing  upon  non-intrusive  measures,  giving  due  emphasis  on  enforcement  measures  in  high impact cases with a view to prosecute the offenders at the earliest for credible deterrence against tax evasion/black money;

(x) Implementing information technology based 'Project Insight' by the Income Tax Department for strengthening  the  non-intrusive  information  driven  approach  for  improving  tax  compliance  and effective utilization of available information;

(xi)  Setting-up  a  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 expeditious & coordinated investigation of recent revelations in Panama paper leaks.

Further,  before  the  cases  involving  black  money  stashed  away  abroad  were  subjected  to  more stringent provisions of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, a one-time three months' compliance window closing on 30 th September 2015 was  provided  under  the  new  law  wherein  648  declarations  involving  undisclosed  foreign  assets worth Rs.4164 crore were made. The amount collected by way of tax and penalty in such cases is about Rs.2476 crore.

While  action  against  black  money  is  an  on-going  process,  as  part  of  enforcement  measures,  the Income Tax Department (ITD) conducted searches in 990 groups of assessees during last 2 years (F.Ys.  2014-15  and  2015-16),  seizing  undisclosed  assets  worth  Rs.1,474  Crore.  These  assessees admitted undisclosed income of Rs.21,354 Crore. During the same period, 9,457 surveys conducted resulted  in  detection  of  undisclosed  income  of  Rs.22,475  Crore.  Other  investigations  have  led  to detection of substantial amounts of undisclosed income. There has been significant rise in criminal prosecutions  filed  by  the  Income  Tax  Department  also  during  last  2  years  and  number  of  cases where prosecution complaints were filed and offences were compounded during F.Ys. 2014-15 and 2015-16 is 3,140 as against 1,690 during F.Ys. 2012-13 and 2013-14.

The above measures have equipped the Government better in curbing the menace of black money.

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