Aadhaar will nail benami deals: Modi

Cleaner system integral to irreversible rise of India, 12digit number to be govt’s weapon in unearthing dubious property transactions, says PM

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday the 12-digit biometric Aadhaar number would be used to track assets bought with slush funds in a proxy’s name, better known as “benami property”, reaffirming his government’s resolve to crack down on corruption.

Modi’s statement at the inaugural session of the 15th edition of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit confirms reports of the government’s plan to use the unique identity number for property transactions, a sector where the use of black money is rampant.

The move to clamp down on benami transactions follows a series of measures the government has taken to combat corruption. Modi said measures such as demonetisation and a new goods and services tax had left the corrupt scared and brought black money into the formal economy.

“There is a behaviour change in the country you can see today… the corrupt are afraid to deal in black money and there is a healthy and clean corporate culture,” he said.

Saying he was ready to pay a political price for fighting corruption, Modi described Aadhaar, which is facing legal challenges over privacy concerns, as an irreversible change, a term he used to play on the HT summit’s theme of The Irreversible Rise of India.

“By linking Aadhaar to mobile and Jan Dhan, we have created such a system that could not have been imagined few years back,” the PM said.

Linking Aadhaar with property deals is part of a strategy to profile assessees in the light of asset ownership, lifestyle and spending pattern and the income reported in tax returns.

Going forward, organised corruption will come down by these steps. I may have to pay a political price for the path I have taken but I’m ready for it

In 2014, people... voted to change the system; they voted for a system that is permanent, irreversible… corruptionfree, citizencentric and developmentfriendly NARENDRA MODI, Prime Minister

RAJ K RAJ/HT PHOTO Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson and Editorial Director, HT Media Ltd, at the 15th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi on Thursday.