The Indian government has received sensitive information from its German counterpart regarding tax evaders, who have channelled money in a tax haven bank in Liechtenstein, a small European country known for hosting such banks, and it is unwilling to make these details public.
FDI inflows into India are expected to register robust growth in 2026, supported by strong macroeconomic fundamentals, big-ticket investment announcements, sustained efforts to improve the ease of doing business, and a new generation of investment-linked trade pacts.
The Supreme Court today decided to hear on February 19 an application seeking speedy hearing of a plea by jurist Ram Jethmalani accusing the Centre of not implementing its directions on the issue of black money allegedly stashed in banks abroad.
The Centre on Friday declined before the Supreme Court to make public names of the people who have stashed black money in foreign banks, saying it is not possible to disclose information received from foreign governments under Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement.
The Swiss authorities have never considered tax evasion a reason for breaking banking secrecy on an account; what they have acknowledged now is that they will cooperate in cases of tax fraud, which has a tighter definition.
Net inflows were $18.4 billion for the rolling 12-month period ended January 2024 compared to $32.7 billion for the rolling 12-month period ended January 2023.
Top merchants in Mumbai confirmed that diamond market is stunned by the revelation
While posting the matter on April 29, the bench asked the Solicitor General to take proper instruction from the Revenue Secretary and also respond "What prevented them (Centre) to comply with the directions."
Since 2009, the Department has publicly charged 73 account holders and 35 professionals with violations arising from their offshore banking activities, and 72 individuals have plead guilty or were convicted at trial.
With the Modi government facing the arduous task of fulfilling its promise of getting back black money stashed abroad, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi on Friday said all amounts deposited in foreign banks by Indian citizens can't be termed as black money and that it is not a crime to open such accounts.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said the NDA government has done more work to fish out black money than any other previous government in a short span of two years and all efforts are afoot to book those who have not taken advantage of the disclosure scheme.
First cover contains names, documents and information of 18 persons already probed by I-T authorities.
President Zelenskyy's telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Modi came hours after India abstained on a UN Security Council resolution by the United States that 'deplores in the strongest terms' Russia's 'aggression' against Ukraine.
Tehelka magazine said two years ago the German government had passed on the names and bank account details of 18 Indians who had invested their wealth in the LGT bank in Liechtenstein, a well-known tax haven.
The government on Saturday said it has served notices to 17 persons who allegedly kept untaxed money in foreign banks and prosecution has begun against them, but refused to reveal their names. The comments, made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, came a day after some media reports revealed names of 15 entities, including individuals and trusts, who allegedly kept illicit money in LGT Bank of Liechtenstein, an European country neighbouring Switzerland.
After resisting for more than three years, the Centre on Tuesday revealed names of 18 persons in the Supreme Court who allegedly stashed black money with the LST bank in Liechtenstein and against whom prosecution have been launched by the Income Tax department.
The German government will buy stolen data of about 1,500 German tax offenders holding secret bank accounts in Switzerland offered by an informer for Euro 2.5 million on lines of a similar deal two years back for account information from Liechtenstein.
The Centre on Friday submitted before the Supreme Court that all the information on black money received from foreign countries, with which India has double taxation avoidance agreement, cannot be disclosed.
Noted jurist Ram Jethmalani on Tuesday accused in the Supreme Court the National Democratic Alliance government and the previous United Progressive Alliance dispensation of failure to bring back black money stashed abroad and criticised leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on the issue.
Anil Divan, who is fighting the black money case in the Supreme Court, speaks to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
In a major development in the fight against black money, multilateral grouping OECD today unveiled a 'single global standard' for automatic exchange of financial account information by various countries including India and Switzerland.
India has a double-taxation avoidance pact with Singapore and more than 85 countries.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has taken legal action against British tax officials after facing a demand for payment of more than 1 billion pounds ($1.57 billion) in relation to a family trust.
Jaitley said, "I welcome this investigation. I think it is a healthy step that these kind of exposes are being made. I have been repeatedly saying that the world is now going to increasingly become more transparent, countries are cooperating with each other and slowly all this information is going to come out as a result of various global initiatives which have been launched."
'The difference between black money in India and the black money out of India is, in India, it is tax evaded money and Indian money outside India is not only tax evaded money, but money which has been taken out of India's capital resources needed for India. So it is not only tax evasion, but treason too.'
A major criticism of the new law is that it can become an instrument of abuse as it confers the tax enforcement authorities with strong discretionary powers, says Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.
'China's development is on a different scale from India's. They are very far ahead.' 'I don't think it will be possible in the next 30 years for us to catch them,' says Aakar Patel.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who is one of the petitioners in the black money case, makes a case for the revelation of all the names of account holders that the government has submitted to the Supreme Court.
Two organisations tracking tax violations and money laundering worldwide identify totally different sets of countries for lack of financial transparency.
India on Monday got the backing of Switzerland in its bid to become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Government on Monday formed a multi-agency group to monitor exposes in this regard and vowed to take action against all "unlawful" accounts held abroad.
Concluding the three-part series, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta says that the black money law is likely to fail because of the ineptness of India's investigative and enforcement agencies.
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