New law to act against those with black money

Talking tough, the Finance Ministry on Friday said that those who did not declare unaccounted income under the compliance window have underestimated the power of information exchange and will regret, and there will be a new set of laws to treat those who are caught now.

Economic Affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das said that as a country, India cannot allow ghost economy to undermine real economy and growth. “Black money compliance window: Those who did not declare have done it at their own peril and will regret,” Das tweeted.

The government has received details of undisclosed foreign assets worth Rs 3,770 crore from 638 declarations till September 30, the deadline for availing the opportunity under its new black money law. But this is not all the black money the government has received till date. There are undisclosed incomes under the head of HSBC cases. Another set of such incomes are under Liechtenstein cases.

The Rs 3,770 crore was received under the window provided to tax evaders under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. The lukewarm response from this window, however, soon started being compared with the amnesty scheme launched by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram in 1997, which saw total declation of Rs 33,000 crore.