Govt will study how black money is stashed

The Finance Ministry will conduct a study on the "modus operandi of concealment" of black money in the country by major business and public sectors and other channels.

The study report will be based on the investigation and intelligence reports of the Income Tax department which conducts nation-wide searches and raids in the country to unearth tax evasion and flow of black money.

The I-T orders and tax demand notices which were raised after such searches will form a part of this report which will have both public and restricted versions. These will be put in public and departmental domain respectively, a senior Finance Ministry official said.

The Ministry has already commissioned three different studies on unaccounted income generated inside and outside the country by leading economic think tanks of the country.

The new study report will be compiled in a month's time and is expected to be put in public domain by the first half of this year, the official said.

The I-T department is witness to an increasing number of new trends used by various entities to hide their income, generate black money and even launder this money to foreign locations. The study report is part of the government's overall strategy to combat black money in the country, the official said.

Usage of high-end software peripherals and channelising of such funds through tax havens will feature prominently in the study report as the I-T department has encountered such techniques recently in a number of high-profile cases, he said.

The nature of trade and industry identified by the I-T department and other Law Enforcement Agencies in these cases will be compiled and put forth in the compilation, the official said.

A seven-member committee of senior I-T officials have already begun the work on the study report which will include the angles of intelligence generation and investigation of such cases from across the country in the compilation.

The other study on quantum of black money, to be conducted by three financial institutions, will come out with their results next year.