The carrot-and-stick approach of the Narendra Modi government in its fight against black money menace in the country is beginning to yield results.
The carrot, offered in the form of the much-publicised Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS) -- a four-month window to declare black money -- has generated over Rs 6,700 crore as the first instalment of tax.
The stick approach, the 586 income tax raids across the country, has so far revealed over Rs 300 crore in cash seizures, Rs 79 crore in new currency notes of Rs 2,000, and unaccounted income of Rs 2,600 crore, according to Times of India.
IDS -- the government's carrot
The four-month IDS window, between June and September, saw disclosures of over Rs 67,000 crore in unaccounted assets. At a penalty and tax of 45 percent (including surcharge and cess) on the total disclosed amount, the government had expected to net over Rs 30,000 crore.
But as several disclosures have turned out to be bogus, the government has revised its earlier estimates that pegged the money to be accrued to the government coffers by September next year at Rs 25,000 crore after knocking off Rs 5,000 crore from its estimates.
Some reports also suggest that a dozen dubious disclosures amounting to over Rs 2,500 crore were filed against each other by business rivals.
IT raids -- the government's stick
The maximum seizure -- in excess of Rs 140 crore besides gold seizure worth Rs 52 -- has been made in Tamil Nadu.
In Pune, IT raids seized Rs 10.80 crore, out of which Rs 8.8 crore was in new currency notes. On Wednesday, a raid on 15 lockers that belonged to a single person in Pune's Bank of Maharashtra branch of Parvati, led to the seizure of Rs 9.85 crore in cash - Rs 8 crore in new Rs 2,000 notes and the rest in Rs 100 notes.
Similarly, when tax officials raided a lawyer, who declared unaccounted income of Rs 125 crore in October, they first recovered Rs 14 crore in cash from his premises and subsequently seized another Rs 19 crore from his account believed to be unaccounted income.
Government still not happy, encouraging citizens for tip-offs
Aiming at maximizing the total amount of money that they will unearth, the government on Friday urged people to email any information they have about black money.
"We have set up a specific address for direct information on black money, which is blackmoneyinfo@incometax.gov.in," Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said.
