Black money refers to funds earned on the black market, on which income and other taxes has not been paid. The total amount of black money deposited in foreign banks by Indians is unknown, but one estimate by Professor R Vaidyanathan at Indian Institutes of Management estimated the total at over ₹ 7,280,000 Crores (US$1.4 trillion).[1]
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In January 2011 the Supreme Court of India asked why the names of those who have stashed money in the Liechtenstein Bank have not been disclosed.[2] The court argued that the government should be more forthcoming in releasing all available information on what it called a "mind-boggling" amount of money that is believed to be held illegally in foreign banks.[3]
While official numbers are not available, Swiss banking officials have said that the largest depositors of illegal foreign money in Switzerland are Indian.[4]
In August 2010, the government revised the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement to provide means for investigations of black money in Swiss banks. This revision, expected to become active by January 2012, will allow the government to make inquiries of Swiss banks in cases where they have specific information about possible black money being stored in Switzerland.[5]
To curb black money, India has signed TIEA with 10 countries - Bahamas, Bermuda, the British Virgin islands, the Isle of Man, the Cayman Island, the British island of Jersey, Monaco, St. Kitts and Nevis, Argentina and the Marshal Islands - where money is believed to have been stashed away.[6]
In April 2011, Hasan Ali Khan was arrested on charges of stashing over 36,000 crore in foreign banks.[7]
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