0.5% holds half of cash

Less than half per cent of population deposited nearly half of total cash

New Delhi, Dec. 29: As many as 60 lakh individuals and firms — less than half a percentage of India’s 125 crore population — have made large deposits totalling an astonishing `7 lakh crore in old notes — nearly half of the total high-value notes in circulation.

While disclosing this, finance ministry officials warned black money hoarders that every penny of tax will be extracted as the “black money does not become white by merely depositing it in banks”.

They said the government will not hound any genuine depositor but at the same time will not hesitate in tracking all such deposits and litigating any tax evasion by a black money holder trying to convert illegal wealth.

After demonetisation, unaccounted wealth holders have an option to avail of a tax evasion amnesty scheme Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) and pay their dues, failing which the government’s long arms will surely catch them, they said.

“People are thinking that money has come into the banking system and it has all become white. This is not so. We have been getting daily information of all the deposits above `2 lakh, `5 lakh and the number and amount deposited. We have been collating this information with past information about the each person,” a top government official said.

“So, there is a huge scope for taxing now which has arisen and we do hope that people will understand that simply because they have put in bank it has become white that is not the case. We do hope that people themselves will come forward to participate in the scheme. But if they don’t, they are not going to be happy,” the official further said.

The tax department is armed with systems to track those with multiple banks accounts as well as those who are depositing in accounts of others and tax department will not leave anyone who is trying to evade taxes, he added. “Even if you make deposits of more than `2 lakh, we have information about more then 60 lakh individuals, companies and institutions who have deposited more than `7 lakh crore of money. That’s an astonishing number. We will be looking at it. For individuals, the deposit figure would be `3-4 lakh crore.”

“We do expect a lot of revenue buoyancy because of this either in this year or in subsequent years but nobody will go scot-free,” the official said.

Following the ban on 500 and 1,000 rupee notes on November 8, the government has come out with PMGKY under which people can disclose unaccounted cash and come clean by paying 50 per cent tax.

Besides the scheme provides for a mandatory deposit of 25 per cent of such income in the zerointerest bearing Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme, 2016, for four years. — PTI

DATA MINING has helped income-tax department to get enormous data about cash deposits.

WHILE deposits show how inequal India is, it may allow tax officials to catch stash hoarders. “We do hope that people themselves will come forward to participate in the (amnesty) scheme. But if they don’t, they are not going to be happy,” — FINANCE MINISTRY OFFICIAL