Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday warned that Indians who had stashed unaccounted money abroad in Swiss banks could face more difficulties when Switzerland start realtime information exchange with India in two years.
Already the impact of "our steps" to check black money is clear from the latest figures of Swiss central bank, which showed that money parked by Indians in Swiss banks nearly halved to about Rs 4,500 crore in 2016, Modi said.
Modi was addressing members of the CA Institute on the occasion of the CA Institute's foundation day.
Modi urged chartered accountabts to warn them (clients who had stashed money abroad) that they would not be spared.
He stressed the need for chartered accountants to safeguard the economic health of the society while going about advising their clients on tax matters.
Modi also urged the CA fraternity to look to develop a "Big four" from within India so that there could be a 'Big Eight' accounting firms in the world in next few years.
Action against shell companies
PTI adds: Warning of tough action on companies indulging in tax evasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said over 37,000 such shell firms have been already detected and registrations of more than 3 lakh others have been cancelled.
Modi said his government is committed to taking even tougher action against those helping hide black money and he is not at all concerned about any political implications of strong moves.
In a strong message to the CA community, he asked as to why action has only been taken against just 25 of them for irregularities, while more than 1,400 cases have been pending for many years.
He said it is a bitter truth that only 32 lakh Indians have declared over Rs 10 lakh income, despite crores of them being in high-end professions.
Giving details of action taken post demonetisation, he said data mining shows that over 3 lakh registered companies indulged in suspected dealings.
“Government has cancelled registration of over 1 lakh companies in a single stroke and more than 37,000 shell firms have been identified for strong action,” he said.
Modi said chartered accountants need to safeguard society’s economic health and they have a big responsibility.
“Your signature is more powerful than that of the Prime Minister and the government also believes the accounts signed by you,” he said addressing the CAs.
He exhorted them to take charge of bringing their clients to path of honesty and said a wrong audit can impact lives of gullible investors as people take investment decisions on the basis of their audit reports.