The Centre has ruled out for now the introduction of any voluntary disclosure scheme for bringing back unaccounted money kept in banks abroad.
“At present, the Government is not considering bringing a voluntary disclosure scheme for declaration of unaccounted money outside India,” Mr S.S. Palanimanickam, Minister of State for Finance, said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
In the recent months, there has been lot of pressure from Opposition parties on the need for the Government to take steps to bring back the black money stashed abroad by Indians. There were also suggestions that the Government should consider VDIS II to bring back the unaccounted money stashed abroad.
India had in June 1997 launched a voluntary disclosure of income scheme. This scheme gave an opportunity to the income tax defaulters to disclose their undisclosed income at the prevailing tax rates.
Over 3.5 lakh people had disclosed their income and assets under this scheme, which netted Rs 7,800 crore to the Union Government. The scheme was closed on December 31, 1998.