As IT-dept cracks down on black money worth Rs 100 crore, PM says war on corruption to continue

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the fight against corruption and black money will continue. "Corruption and black money have destroyed the Indian democracy, eating into it like a termite. But due to your blessings, the fight against corruption and black money will continue," Modi said here.

During his interaction with some youths, the Prime Minister said the new generation wants to work with honesty and it is a good indication. Pointing out that it would be 75 years in 2022 since India got the Independence, Modi said if every person in the country takes a step ahead in all these five years, then the country would move at least 125 crore steps forward towards development.

Modi, who symbolically gave away a few smart phones to sakhi mandals (self-help groups) as part of the Raghubar Das government's decision to give one lakh smart phones to SHGs, said he was surprised when he got the right answers from the villagers of remote areas about the usage of smart phones. The Prime Minister said he would go back to Parliament and tell his colleagues, who had criticised as to how could the poor learn about smart phones, about this unique experience.

Modi gave away the appointment letters to the personnel of Adim Janjati Battalion and praising their confidence, said they would become a new strength to the security apparatus of the state. He also laid the foundation stones of a 4-lane bridge over River Ganga in Sahibganj, multi-model hub, Sahibganj Dairy and inaugurated the 311 km Govindpur-Jamtara-Dumka-Sahibganj road and dedicated to the nation a solar power facility at Sahibganj district court premises and the Sahibganj district hospital. Modi also laid the foundation stone of a 50,000 litre dairy farm and offered help to it from Gujarat and said for the first time in Santhal Pargana so many developmental projects have been taken up. 

The Income Tax department today conducted searches at over 50 locations as part of its crackdown against tax evasion to the tune of over Rs 100 crore, its first major action after the black money disclosure window of PMGKY ended recently. Officials said the first set of raids are being conducted against an Ahmedabad-based real estate and infrastructure player. Tax sleuths, they said, have visited 30 locations in cities like Rajkot, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad as part of this action and multiple entities and people have been brought under the action.

This is the first major I-T action after the black money window of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna (PMGKY), announced by the government for stash holders to come clean post-demonetisation, came to a close on March 31. The window had allowed black money holders to declare their illegal wealth by a paying a tax and penalty of about 50 per cent on the undisclosed income.

Officials said the taxman had inputs about the said company taking "bogus" entry deposits through alleged shell firms and operators based in Mumbai and Kolkata for fake sub-contract charges and various other expenses totalling over Rs 100 crore. A similar search has also been conducted in at least 19 locations in and around Pune against a corporate group engaged in "processing and trading of agricultural commodities". Officials did not identify the groups stating that the action is still ongoing.

A senior officer of the department said that with the closure of the PMGKY window, all those cases where black money and tax evasion has been detected will be covered aggressively by such actions. The collections and declarations under the PMGKY have not been as huge and enthusiastic for the department as the similar black money window of Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS) that had fetched Rs 67,382 crore worth of disclosures.

While there is no official comment from the Income Tax department or its policy-making body, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on the total PMGKY declarations, officials indicated it to be around a little over Rs 3,000 crore.