The Centre has, in the past two years, brought to tax undisclosed income of ₹8,200 crore on account of deposits made in unreported foreign bank accounts in HSBC, Parliament was informed.
Additionally, about ₹8,000 crore of credits in the undisclosed foreign accounts of Indians — whose names were disclosed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) — have been detected, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a written reply to a query on efforts taken by the government to bring back black money stashed (by Indians) abroad.
He said the government has undertaken investigations against every Indian who had undisclosed accounts with HSBC, and prosecutions have already been launched.
Jaitley said the Centre recently renegotiated its double taxation avoidance pacts with Mauritius, Singapore and Cyprus and closed loopholes in tax treaties.
He also said that a separate law — The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act 2015 — was enacted to specifically and effectively tackle the issue of black money stashed abroad.
Under this law, a one-time three-month-long compliance window was provided. As many as 648 declarations involving undisclosed foreign assets to the tune of ₹4,164 crore were made.
As much as ₹2,476 crore has been collected by way of tax and penalty, Parliament was informed.