Where’s the black money?

It is very disappointing that the government was able to mop up only a measly Rs 3,770 crore from 638 people who had undeclared wealth stashed abroad. The Income-Tax Department will get Rs 2,270 crore from the tax and penalties these 638 people will pay. But it was not entirely unexpected as the mopping up of black money is being done in a ham-handed, half-hearted manner even though it was one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three major election promises, the other two being development and corruption.

Even this exercise, which provided a three-month amnesty window for the declaration of black money, was a sudden decision as the Black Money Bill of 2015, passed this year, was to come into force on April 1, 2016. Besides, Mr Modi had promised to bring this illegally hoarded wealth back to India, but as of today there is no sign of any of those dollars coming back nor does the act say anything about it.

That the government is red-faced is obvious in the threat now being issued that offenders will regret not taking advantage of the amnesty. Economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das warned them not to underestimate the power of information as the government has treaties with countries which will share information on income concealed in tax havens. The government in the past had received information from some countries but the results were a damp squib. One gets the feeling the government is tilting at windmills and that it needs to look again at how the law can be implemented effectively. The holders of illegal money, meanwhile, will have ample time to clean up their act.