Centre suspects Rs 3-4 L cr in tax-evaded income deposited

As it analyses bank deposits post-demonetisation, the government has found that an estimated Rs 3-4 lakh crore of tax-evaded income could have been deposited during 50-day window provided to get rid of junked Rs 500/1000 notes.

A senior official said Income Tax Department has been asked to scrutinise details and send notices to depositors of Rs 3-4 lakh crore on which tax could have been evaded.

“We now have trunkloads of data, analysis of which shows that more than Rs 2 lakh was deposited in over 60 lakh bank accounts post demonetisation. The total amount deposited in these accounts is more than 7.34 lakh crore,” he said.

More than Rs 10,700 crore cash was deposited in different accounts in the North Eastern states since November 9, he said adding the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate are looking into over Rs 16,000 crore deposited in different accounts of cooperative banks.

Also, it has come to light that Rs 25,000 crore cash was deposited in dormant bank accounts while nearly Rs 80,000 crore of repayment of loans was done in cash since November 8, 2016, when the government demonetised old 500 and 1000 rupee notes.

Holders of the old currency were given the option to exchange or deposit them in bank accounts until December 30. “Starting from November 8, 2016 various reports were called for from the banks based on different threshold of cash deposits made by different categories of persons. The reports were collated and analysed based on intelligence which has been available in the Government data bases,” the official said.

After in-depth analysis, these reports have been disseminated to Income Tax Department, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and other Law Enforcement Agencies.

The deposits of more than Rs 13,000 crore in Regional Rural Banks have also been disseminated.

Besides, “cash deposits in terrorist affected states have also been disseminated to the concerned law enforcement agencies and appropriate actions have been taken in such cases,” he said. The official said cash deposits of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh per account, totalling Rs 42,000 crore, are found to have common PAN, mobile number or address. The same would be looked into in detail by the Income-Tax Department.

The government has got deposits in Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts scrutinised in detail also amounts of cash deposited in different regions of the country and shared it with I-T department.

Meanwhile, contrary to popular belief, it was the Government which had “advised” the Reserve Bank of India to junk INR 500/1000 notes on November 7 and the board of the central bank the very next day recommended the demonetisation.

In a 7-page note to the Parliament’s Department-Related Committee of Finance headed by Congress leader M Veerappa Moily, the RBI stated that the Government had on November 7, 2016 “advised the Reserve Bank that to mitigate the triple problems of counterfeiting, terrorist financing and black money, the Central Board of the Reserve Bank may consider withdrawal of the legal tender status of the notes in high denominations of INR 500 and INR 1,000.” 

The RBI’s Central Board met the very next day to “consider the Government’s advice,” and after “deliberations,” decided to “recommend to Central Government that the legal tender status of the banknotes in the high denominations of INR 500 and Rs 1000 be withdrawn.”

Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met within hours of that recommendation on November 8 and banned the circulation of old 500 and 1000 rupee notes.

For those who feel normalcy post demonetisation is round the corner, here is a dampener, no less than the chief of India’s largest bank feels that things will not be normal before end February. State Bank of India Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya on Tuesday said the prevailing situation arising out of demonetisation will get normalised by end-February, emphasising the need to promote digitisation of economy.

“We believe that the situation (arising out of demonetisation) will become totally normal by the end of February,” Bhattacharya told reporters at the airport here after arriving to participate in the 8th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (VGGS).

She said that SBI is ensuring that account holders are not made to stand in queue, by supplying adequate cash to bank branches so that money can be withdrawn at their convenience.