Black money outflow from India estimated to be $104 billion

The white paper on black money in India has refrained from providing any government estimates on black money but has quoted figures put forth by other organizations.  As per the agency named Global Financial Integrity (GFI) the amount as on December 2011 was to the tune of $104 billion whereas the Swiss national banks have pegged it at Rs 9,295 crore by the end of 2010. The paper has also spoken about the amount of FDIs routed through countries like Singapore and Mauritius to avoid taxes.

GFI is an international agency that promotes national and multi-lateral policies, safeguards and agreements aimed at curtailing the cross-border flow of illegal money. As per the agency, in the year 1984, black money in India amounted to Rs 37 crore as per estimates provided by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. The agency has also given the estimates on the illegitimate flow of money from China which stood at a substantial $2,467 billion as on December 2011.

The figures provided by the Swiss banks have been confirmed from the Swiss Ministry of External Affairs. It has also been quoted that deposits of Indians in Swiss banks have decreased from Rs 23,373 crore in 2006 to Rs 9,295 crore in 2010.

While mentioning the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country the paper has observed that Mauritius and Singapore were the two topmost FDI sources in India during April-March 2000-11. Mauritius accounted for 41.80% of entire FDI of $54,227 million from April-March 2000-11 and Singapore accounted for 9.17% of the total. The paper has noted that such big amounts could not have been sourced from small economies like those of Mauritius and Singapore and is indicative of the fact that these transactions had been routed through these countries to avoid taxes.