Pranab Mukherjee plays safe on black money issue

New Delhi, Jan 24: After a series of attacks from Opposition and Supreme Court, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in a press meet announced the governments strategy on how to deal with the black money issue on Tuesday, Jan 24. Meanwhile, he defended the government's stand over the black money issue by stating that they have got "nothing to hide".

"Swiss bank has been persistently refusing to divulge information on black money. No country is going to share information unless there is a legal framework," said Mukherjee.

However, Mukherjee said that the government cannot disclose the details of Indians, whose money is deposited in banks abroad, due to some treaty obligations. Mukherjee also proclaimed that five new strategies to deal with black money is being implemented by the government.

Mukherjee declared that India will appoint 8 more Income Tax international units to prevent further illegal outflow. The government will tighten regulatory and tax framework for this. Also, the government will set up multidisciplinary committee to prevent money-stashing, hence forth.

Watch : Pranab Mukherjee speaking on the government's stand on black money issue

He added that there is no reliable estimate of black money so far. According to his estimation $500 to $1400 billion of Indian money is being held in foreign accounts. The source of the black money still remains inconclusive and said that it needs to be identified primarily.

Mukherjee said, “it has also formulated 10 agreements on sharing data on black money. Moreover, the government has started talks with 65 nations for exchange of black money information."

He said, “Government has concluded double taxation pact with 23 countries."

OneIndia News