SIT On Black Money

The Black Money Trail-Money Life
After the special investigation team (SIT) was set up following Supreme Court orders, there are hopes of a decisive action to unearth black money stashed abroad

One of the first actions of the Narendra Modi government was to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to track black money. The decision is not merely about a poll promise. No amount of hard work will bring the economy on track, unless the government finds a way to raise revenue innovatively. With a fiscal deficit of 4.47% of GDP (gross domestic product) and a lot of ‘unpaid bills’ (the unpaid subsidy bill alone is expected to aggregate around Rs1 trillion, says an article in The Mint), the government has the tough task of meeting sky-high public expectations with very little manoeuvrability.

Forcing rich Indians to bring back the wealth stashed overseas is certainly a better option than the Congress formula of draconian taxes, complex compliance processes and harassment, followed by amnesty schemes every few years to let tax-evaders off the hook. In any case, the Supreme Court (SC) had closed this option and also set a deadline for the black money issue.

The Congress-led regime has been dragging its feet on this issue for over five years, despite specific information available from France and Germany. That Indians have money stashed abroad is not a myth. Various global organisations have attempted to quantify the amounts from time to time. One such is Global Financial Integrity (GFI) which estimated black money outflow from India at a whopping $344 billion in the decade of 2002-11, of which $85 billion was in 2011 alone; India is ranked fifth in the world in terms of illicit outflows.

Why do we expect the Narendra Modi government to be different? First, an extremely credible person like Justice MB Shah has been asked to head the SIT. He has already held its first meeting. Secondly, it will report directly to the SC and this empowers it enormously. Thirdly, we have a strong leader at the Centre who is not burdened by coalition compromises. Finally, this is an issue that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership has agitated before the apex court and in the court of public opinion. Failing to act decisively will irreparably damage its own credibility