Black money recovery can add USD 30 billion to forex reserves, says BofA-ML
New Delhi: The unearthing of black money allegedly stashed away by the citizens in Swiss banks could add US $30 billion to the country's forex reserves, says a Bank of America Merrill Lynch report.
According to the global financial services provider, though there would not be any immediate forex impact given the legal issues involved, it could add US $30-35 billion to the forex reserves over time.
Based on a recent research study, BofA-ML has worked with an estimate of capital flight of about US $200 billion.
According to the study, Raghbendra Jha and Duc Nguyen Truong, of Australian National University, estimated total capital flight of more than US $186 billion during 1998-2012.
"If even half of this is unearthed, it could add US $30-35 billion (three to four months of current import cover) to forex reserves over time," BofA-ML said in a research note on Wednesday.
The government on Wednesday submitted a list of names of 627 account holders in HSBC bank, Geneva in black money case before the Supreme Court, which asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to go through the list and take appropriate action in accordance with law.
A bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu did not open the sealed envelope containing the names submitted by the government and said that it would be opened only by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed SIT.
The apex court asked the SIT to submit a status report of its probe by November-end.
Placing the sealed documents before the bench, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said details of account holders, which were supplied by the French government to the Centre in 2011, pertained to the year 2006.
The report further noted that rupee is expected to hold Rs 58-62/US $and BofA-ML's Asia forex strategist, Adarsh Sinha, forecasts INR to be at Rs 61/US $in December.
