Shed reluctance, start sharing banking info: Pranab Mukherjee at G20

On the eve of G-20 Finance Ministers meet, India Friday asked member-countries to shed reluctance and start sharing banking information to combat the menace of black money which is posing a serious challenge to the world economy.

"For (fighting) black money and terror funding, information is the most important... Essential ingredient of fighting this menace is availability and access of information."

"Information should be provided fast. Information should be given on demand and there should be no restrictions," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here.

Regretting that some countries try to restrict flow of information by putting unnecessary clauses in tax treaties, he said after the Pittsburgh declaration many of the countries have extended cooperation in sharing information related to banking, but "it should be made faster and it should not only be restricted to prospective effect".

During the past two years, more than 700 agreements have been signed as instruments on exchange of information between different countries.

Later in his meeting with his French counterpart Francois Baroin, Mukherjee said "for these instruments to be really effective, it is essential that a consensus at global level is developed, that the standards are applied to past information, including banking information, so that tax evasion in the past cases can be properly investigated."

Mukherjee said that India would be raising this issue and sought France's support on the issue.