Black money: India
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India is 3rd on black money list
$440billion flows out in 10 years
WASHINGTON, December 16, 2014
As India continues its pursuit of suspected black money stashed abroad, an international think-tank has ranked the country third globally with an estimated $94.76 billion (nearly Rs 6 lakh crore) illicit wealth outflows in 2012.
As a result, the cumulative illicit money moving out of the country over a ten-year period from 2003 to 2012 has risen to $439.59 billion (Rs 28 lakh crore), as per the latest estimates released by the Global Financial Integrity (GFI).
Russia is on the top with $122.86 billion, followed by China at the second position ($249.57 billion) in terms of the quantum of black money moving out of a country for 2012- the latest year for which these estimates have been made.
The Washington-based research and advocacy group further said that the illicit fund outflows from India accounts for nearly 10 per cent of a record $991.2 billion worth illegal capital that moved out of all developing and emerging nations in 2012 to facilitate "crime, corruption, and tax evasion".
As per GFI's 2014 Annual Global Update on Illicit Financial Flows report, that the cumulative illicit outflows from developing economies for ten years between 2003 and 2012 stands at $6.6 trillion.
This includes $439.59 billion worth illicit money that has moved out of India in these ten years, putting the country at fourth position in overall ranking for a decade, after China ($1.25 trillion), Russia (973.86 billion) and Mexico ($514.26 billion). In these ten years, an average of $43.96 billion of black money is being sent out of India every year, GFI said.
The estimate of this huge illegal money flow follows a Supreme Court-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) tracing Rs 4,479 crore in the accounts of Indians figuring in a list of account holders of HSBC's Geneva branch.
Besides, the SIT has also disclosed tracing unaccounted wealth worth Rs 14,958 crore within India, which are now being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department.
Supreme Court on Black money
December 3, 2014, PTI
In the black money case, the Supreme Court has asked Centre to complete the probe by 31st March, 2015. A Bench headed by chief justice H L Dattu also asked the apex court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the cases of black money to consider the plea for furnishing certain information and correspondences received by it to the petitioners without "blackening" the contents.
Eminent jurist Ram Jethmalani, who is one of the petitioners in the matter, submitted that the then Solicitor General in the previous UPA government Mohan Parasaran, had supplied some letters and documents after masking certain portions.
The bench, also comprising Justices M B Lokur and A K Sikri, accepted another plea of Jethmalani's counsel Anil Divan that the SIT headed by Justice M B Shah, should consider the plea for providing him the copies of the reports of its probe into the black money cases.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi responded to the pleas saying that he would not say "no" for supplying the copies of the reports submitted by the SIT and also assured that the issue of time bar would not arise in the tax probe for suspected black money.
"We are aware of it and there would not be any problem as now the prosecution for tax evasion can be initiated upto 16 years of commission of the offence," he said.
The issue of black money has been matter of a serious political debate in India, including during the last general elections. While the new government has said it is committed to tackle this menace, there are no official figures for the overall size of illicit wealth stashed by Indians within the country or abroad.
Black money outflow in 2012
Rs 6000000000000 - THE AMOUNT OF BLACK MONEY THAT WENT OUT OF INDIA IN 2012
Subodh Varma, December 17, 2014
Nearly $95 billion (Rs 6 lakh crore) were illegally taken out of India in 2012, bringing the total illicit outflow of capital from the country to $440 billion (about Rs 28 lakh crore) in the preceding decade, according to the latest study released on Tuesday by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington DC-based research and advisory organization. Not only have taxes not been paid for these enormous sums, they may have been put to use for various corrupt or criminal activities once parked in foreign safe havens. Overall, just in 2012, nearly a trillion dollars ($991 billion) in illicit capital flowed out of developing and emerging economies, the study noted. This is an all-time high. Between 2003 and 2012, the illicit outflows add up to a monstrous $6.6 trillion, averaging nearly 4% of the developing world's GDP .
Black money has been a major issue roiling India in the recent past. The new Modi government had promised it would bring back black money stashed away in foreign banks in 100 days. While investigations are inching forward, opposi tion parties have been pressing for more decisive action.
Despite much political noise over “black money“, the outflow of national wealth seems to be continuing unchecked and growing each year. The GFI study says illicit outflows are growing at an inflation-adjusted 9.4% per year -roughly double the global GDP growth over the same period. As if these numbers are not mind-boggling enough, GFI chief economist Dev Kar stresses that these estimates are “conservative” since several types of illegal transactions are not reflected in these figures.
“This means that many forms of abusive transfer pricing by multinational corporations as well as much of the proceeds of drug trafficking, human smuggling, and other criminal activities, which are often settled in cash, are not included in these estimates,“ explained Kar, who served as a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund before joining GFI in January 2008.
India ranked third after China and Russia in the quantum of illicit outflows in 2012.For the whole decade of 2003 to 2012, India ranks fourth. A total of 151 countries were studied by Kar and his colleague Joseph Spanjers at the GFI. “As this report demonstrates, illicit financial flows are the most damaging economic problem plaguing the world's developing and emerging economies,“ said GFI President Raymond Baker , a longtime authority on financial crime. The $991.2 billion that flowed illicitly out of developing countries in 2012 was greater than the combined total of FDI ($789.4 billion) and net official development assistance ($89.7 billion), which these economies received that year. Some of the poorest regions of the planet -south Asia and subSaharan Africa -have very high rates of foreign outflows, depriving them of much needed capital for basic amenities and services.
2008-2014
