In 44 years, India lost `17 trillion to scams in exports

Much of the campaign against “black money” has been led by the Supreme Court. In 2011, the top court ordered the appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to make an assessment of dishonest wealth, both domestic and abroad.

The panel was formed in 2014, shortly after Narendra Modi rode to power, pitching repatriation of “black money” of Indians parked abroad as part of his election campaign.

Thereafter, the SIT turned to the central bank for help with unearthing dodgy export deals. It wasn’t immediately clear what the probe panel planned to do with the data.

Telephone calls and text messages to SIT chairman MB Shah for a response remained unanswered. A detailed email to RBI spokesperson did not elicit a response.

In India, past studies on untaxed wealth or illegal outward remittances have been few and far between, and hardly comprehensive or consistent, hurting the fight against corruption which is estimated to cost India 1-2% of gross domestic product ever year.

The latest RBI exercise comes closest to being definitive on at least phoney exports.

In 1988, a rare study by the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) estimated that `13,000 crore of exports were not remitted to India. Some of the amount was recovered but, according to the latest RBI data, realisation of more than `3,200 crores from that period is still pending.

“Exporters found it convenient to park money outside with a little bit of help from low ranking banking officials. Since there was no computerised data they could conceal it with the help of bank officials,” said Ajay Agnihotri, a former CEIB assistant director general, who carried out the study on phoney exports.

India ranked fourth in black money outflows with more than `500 billion siphoned out of the country a year during 2004-2013, the Global Financial Integrity