Black money: Government studying estimates of 3 think tanks

Saying that there is no official estimation of black money within India or stashed away abroad, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the government was examining the reports of three institutes on the matter.

"Varying estimations of the amount of illicit money moving out of the country have been reported by different persons/institutions. Such estimations are based upon different sets of facts, data, methods and assumptions, leading to varying inferences," he told Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

"However, there is no official estimation of the amount of black money stashed abroad or black money taken out of country," he added.

The previous UPA government had in March 2011 asked the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM) to estimate unaccounted income and wealth inside and outside the country.

"Reports received from these institutes are under examination of the government," Jaitley said.

Replying to a separate question, he said the governments of Switzerland, Britain and Spain have not provided details of any black money accounts.

"No black money account details have been provided by Switzerland, UK or Spain," he said.

"However, in specific cases, on requests made, necessary information is provided by the countries with which India has a tax treaty," he added.

An unofficial estimate of illegal money stashed away overseas puts it somewhere between $466 billion and $1.4 trillion.