Government unearths hordes of black money in past two years

Over the last two years, the Indian government has unearthed as much as Rs 50,000 crore of indirect tax evasion and another Rs 21,000 crore of undisclosed income.

The announcement was made by the Finance Ministry, saying that the crackdown on black money has led to seizing of Rs 3,963 crore of smuggled goods in two years. This has seen a 32% jump over corresponding periods in earlier years.

"Enhanced enforcement measures have resulted in unearthing of tax evasion of approximately Rs 50,000 crore of indirect taxes and undisclosed income of Rs 21,000 crore," the statement said.

It also listed the steps that the government took to curb the menace of black money both within and outside India, and said that a new Blackmoney Act has now been enacted with strict penalty provisions, along with a Special Investigation Team (SIT) which is chaired by former Supreme Court Judge M B Shah.

"Many recommendations of SIT have been implemented since then," it said, adding that 1,466 cases have seen prosecution, which is higher than the combined number of last two years.

"The offence of willful attempt to evade any tax, penalty or interest referred to in section 51 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 has been made a scheduled offence under PMLA," it added.

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