AMN / NEW DELHI
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the country has moved on to a much cleaner, transparent and honest financial system after implementation of demonetisation.
In a Facebook post, Mr Jaitley said, cash seizure by Income Tax Department has more than doubled in 2016-17 as compared to 2015-16.
During search and seizure by the Department, Rs. 15,497 crore of undisclosed income has been admitted which is 38 per cent higher than the undisclosed amount during 2015-16.
Mr Jaitley said, undisclosed income detected during surveys in 2016-17 is Rs. 13,716 crore which is 41 per cent higher than the detection made in 2015-16.
The minister said, benefits of these may not yet be visible to some people. The Finance minister said, November 8, 2016 would be remembered as a watershed moment in the history of Indian economy.
This day signifies the resolve of this Government to cure the country from “dreaded disease of black money”.
Mr Jaitley said one of the important objective of demonetisation was to make India a less cash economy and thereby reduce the flow of black money in the system.
He said the number of suspicious transaction reports filed by banks during 2016-17 has gone up from 61,361 in 2015-16 to 3,61,214.
The Finance Minister said Income Tax Department has taken action against more than 1150 shell companies which were used as conduits by over 22,000 beneficiaries to launder more than Rs. 13,300 crore.
Laying down measures taken post demonetisation, Mr Jaitley said SEBI has introduced a Graded Surveillance Measure in stock exchanges.
This measure has been introduced in over 800 securities by the exchanges. The Minister informed that over 450 such companies have been delisted and demat accounts of their promoters have been frozen in order to ensure that such suspicious companies do not languish in the exchanges.
Mr Jaitley said, stone pelting incidences in Jammu and Kashmir and naxal activities in Left Wing Extremism affected areas are reduced significantly due to the impact of demonetisation.
