60,000 notices afoot as I-T spots Rs 10K cr black money

A specialised 'risk assessment wing' of the Income Tax Department has prepared a list of 60,000 people, including 1,300 so-called 'high-risk individuals', who are suspected to laundering about Rs 10,000 crore following the demonetization of high-value currency notes announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November last year.

The Friday actions mark the second phase of 'Operation Clean Money', which was launched on January 31, 2017 for e-verification of cash deposits made following demonetization.

According to sources, these people – which included builders, petrol pump owners, bankers and senior government officials – had deposited cash in banks as well as routed it into real estate and gold holdings. These persons deposited devalued Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in a structured manner to mask their real identities between November 9, 2016 and December 30, 2016.

More than 6,000 of the cases being investigated are related to high-value property purchase, while 6,600 are cases of outward remittances.

"The cases where no response received are also a matter of enquiry," a spokesperson for the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said.

Action against illegal cash depositors is expected to take at least another year.

The I-T department has also found that high-risk persons converted black money into white during the demonetization period, while government officials and other private individuals made huge cash transactions through shell entities to hide their funds.

Department sources told DNA that more than 25 per cent of petrol and CNG pumps became centres of cash conversion during the demonetization period. Petrol pumps' accounts show they accepted more cash than the sale of petroleum products accounted for. Finance ministry sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told DNA that in Delhi alone, 96 of a total of 398 petrol pumps had taken in more than Rs 1 crore in excess, unaccounted-for cash, while a similar trend has been found in 179 CNG filling stations.

Since the November 9, 2016 announcement of demonetization through February 28, 2017, the I-T department has conducted 2,362 searches, seizures and surveys. They have seized more than Rs 818 crore in assets, including Rs 622 crore in cash, and detection of undisclosed income of more than Rs. 9,334 crores. It has referred about 400 cases to the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI.

Fighting black money has been a key promise of the Modi government since it stormed to power in 2014. Since then, it has taken steps to go after domestic as well as foreign black money hoarders. It has used the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Act to expose unaccounted for cash stashed abroad, launched an Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS-I), and scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes to choke the circulation of black as well as counterfeit money. At the same time, it also gave tax evaders a chance to come clean under a new scheme called the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana or IDS-II.

Demonetization Impact

The government has received 21.7 per cent more income tax in FY 2016-17 over the previous fiscal. FY2017 has also seen a 16 per cent growth in gross tax collection, the highest in the past five years.

How the I-T Dept went after dodgy depositors

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), a specialised watchdog for bank transactions, has tallied details of cash depositors' Permanent Account Number (PAN) and their earning profiles using advanced data analytics, including integration of data sources, relationship clustering, and fund tracking. The analysis has identified about 17.92 lakh dodgy depositors. Notices have been sent via mail and SMS to people who entered into cash transactions that weren't in line with their tax profiles. Around 9.46 lakh persons have responded, while the rest are being investigated.