2.11.16

Tax Evasion


A Central Bank data shows that Indians have exported goods and services, worth over Rs.17 trillion over the last 44 years but have not remitted an equal amount in foreign exchange. An analysis of the Central Bank data showed that this might be the first estimate of how much the Indian economy might have suffered from the offshore accounts of tax evaders. This amount is estimated to be at least one-fourth of India’s current Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The amount which is much higher now when adjusted according to the US Dollar is speculated to have been sitting in certain tax havens.
The analysis of the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) data collected from 1972-2015 an estimate of 95% of the Rs.17 trillion were exported over the last decade. The RBI data was based on 188,605 exported transactions which were not remitted back to India, which is a requirement under the rules of the Indian Foreign Exchange. while it might be possible that some of these payments might have been stuck due to defaults during the down periods in the economy but the data shows a constant rise in the under-recoveries over a period of time. Disguised export deals are not the only way to storing all the illegal funds in a bunker abroad either. Money laundering in stock markets is another of the well-known methods of evading taxes.

No comments: