Govt pursuing black money very aggressively: Jayant Sinha

Modi yesterday asked people to declare their undisclosed income by Sept 30 and said it is their last chance

Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha today said more "sources of black money" will come to light as India is pursuing such cases very aggressively in many areas including the Panama papers.

"As we proceed with the investigations. More of these kind of sources of black money would come to light," Sinha said on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi.

He was replying to a query on reports of Income Tax Department unearthing over Rs 13,000 crore of black money stowed away in overseas banks based on two sources of information -- HSBC and International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) -- in 2011 and 2013.

"We have been pursuing (to get back) all of foreign black money very aggressively. Idea of providing compliance window was that people come clean and disclose the black money. Since the window has shut tight. You have the figure, the number of money we have got through investigations, through HSBC and ICIJ," he said.

With regard to domestic black money, Sinha said such account holders are given a four-month deadline till September 30 to disclose any such income, after which penalties should be given. The idea of providing compliance window is to give an opportunity to the people to come clean.

Giving stern warning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had yesterday asked people to declare their undisclosed income by September 30, making it clear that this is the last chance to avoid problems that will follow after the window of opportunity closes.

He had said no questions would be asked about the source of the undisclosed income or assets if the declaration is made voluntarily by September 30.

On the impact of the UK's leaving the European Union, he said there is a period of 2-3 years to adjust and understand the changes that would follow Britain's decision.

He said people have enough time to adjust with the fall out of this new arrangement and stressed that there is no big crisis as of now.

"There is a long time. It would take 2-3 years for Brexit. Till then people have the time for adjustment. By then people will get to know what all changes would come. There is no event of big crisis or situation now," he said.

India at this moment is a shining star in the world, GDP growth rate of the country is improving, he added.

On Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), aimed at reducing poverty and vulnerability of urban poor with providing loan and skill training, he said the government will focus on providing "extensive handholding" to the needy.

He also said that government will need to develop "loan origination system" to track those who are given the money and as well as repayments.

He also advocated imparting financial literacy among people and developing increase sense of self management for loan repayment.