Centre Raises Over ₹21,000 Crore in Black Money Tax Demands, Recoveries Lag Behind

New Delhi: The Indian government has issued tax demands amounting to ₹21,719 crore under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, over the period from July 1, 2015, to March 31, 2025. This was disclosed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday in a written response by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary.

Alongside these tax demands, additional penalties totaling ₹13,385 crore have been levied under various provisions of the Act during the same timeframe. However, actual recoveries have remained comparatively low. The minister stated that ₹338 crore has been recovered so far against the combined dues of tax, penalty, and interest.

Chaudhary noted that the recoveries are not categorized by specific foreign jurisdictions or types of overseas assets, which means there is no separate data available for Swiss bank accounts or other country-specific foreign holdings. The minister also said that tax demands arising from foreign assets typically involve multiple jurisdictions and, therefore, a centralised country-wise breakdown is not maintained.

Providing further details, he informed the House that 163 prosecution complaints have been filed under the Black Money Act as of March 31, 2025. These legal proceedings, he said, are being pursued on a case-by-case basis by relevant jurisdictional authorities.

Responding to media reports suggesting a rise in Indian-linked deposits in Swiss banks in 2024, Chaudhary clarified that the Swiss National Bank (SNB) data often cited in such reports covers a wide spectrum of financial items. This includes interbank transactions, liabilities of foreign branches, and other unrelated financial flows, which do not necessarily represent holdings of Indian residents.

He underlined that Swiss authorities themselves have cautioned against using SNB’s statistics to estimate Indian assets in Swiss banks. The government, he said, continues to monitor such matters closely but relies on verified disclosures and tax assessments to take legal action against undisclosed foreign income and assets.