The National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) has refuted the Finance Ministry’s reported claim that the studies commissioned by the UPA Government to estimate the amount of black money in India and held overseas by Indians are yet to be completed.
High-level Ministry sources also confirmed to The Hindu that at least the first drafts of these studies commissioned to the other two agencies — the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM) — are available with the Finance Ministry.
Last week, the Finance Ministry was reported to have said in reply to an RTI query that the studies the UPA Government had commissioned were yet to be completed.
Responding to the reports, the NIPF, an autonomous institute of the Finance Ministry, issued a press note on Monday that said the Finance Ministry had informed it in March 2014 that it would treat as final the report it had submitted in December 2013.
The UPA Government had in March 2011 commissioned three studies on estimation of unaccounted income or wealth, both inside and outside the country. These three studies were expected to be completed by September 2012.
“Further details cannot be made available at this point of time as the information is exempt under Section 8 (1) (c) of the RTI Act, 2005, since the report and action taken thereof is yet to be submitted to Parliament,” the Finance Ministry was reported to have said in the RTI reply.
The said Section bars information “disclosure of which would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament or the State Legislature”.
The press note clarification from the NIPF could come as an embarrassment for the Modi Government that had on May 27, in compliance with a Supreme Court direction, constituted a SIT on black money.
The different estimates on the quantum of black money range between $500 billion to $1,400 billion. A study by Global Financial Integrity has estimated the illicit money outflow to be $462 billion. “These estimates are based on various unverifiable assumptions and approximations. [The] Government has been seized of the matter and has, therefore, commissioned these institutions to get an estimation and sense of the quantum of illicit fund generated and held within and outside the country,” the Finance Ministry had said in a press statement issued on May 29, 2011.
