Narendra Modi Takes One More Step Against Black Money

I remember the time when Narendra Modi came to office and the thing that he said about bringing all the black money back to India. He told that if all the black money, that have been accumulated by various people of India for tax evasion, could be brought to India, then every Indian will have at least 1 lakh money more in their bank account. He even took several steps to let this happen.

Narendra Modi Convinced Switzerland for Automatic Sharing Of Information

Another piece of information that is becoming viral is the agreement of Switzerland for the automatic sharing of information about the all the Indian account holders in Swiss bank. This has been noted as yet another big and bold move of Narendra Modi, to fight against black money that has been stashed overseas. The data will be shared from September 2018 onwards. There was a joint declaration signed today, that is, on 23^rd of November, 2016, between India and Switzerland, for the implementation of Automatic Exchange of Information, known as AEOI, regarding both the countries to start collecting the data in accordance to the global standards in 2018, and also exchange of these data from 2019 onwards. In return, India has promised to maintain confidentiality of the data. This signature has confirmed Switzerland’s commitment to India, for the implementation of the AEOI standards.

Is This Step Taken Too Late?

This obviously is again a success of Narendra Modi to be able to convince Switzerland to share this bank information. Switzerland has always been a cynosure of all the debates regarding the black money that has been allegedly stashed by Indians abroad. However, I feel that this move should have been immediately followed by the demonetization scheme, which was implemented by the government on 8^th of this month. This demonetization, which was planned to ensure that each and every ounce of money, accumulated at homes, to be deposited in the bank, was the first bold move of Narendra Modi to fight against Black money. Well, from my point of view, both of the moves should have been implemented simultaneously for a crystal clear reason, that is, to stop all the alternative paths for these tax evaders, so that all the Black Money outside India could be brought back to India.

What more has to be Done Against the Black Money Outside India?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a meeting with Swiss president Johann Schneider Ammann, on 6^th of June, at Geneva. The agenda of the meeting was the need for the expeditious exchange of information in order to combat tax evasion, and also to convince them for an early start to negotiate on the Agreement for Automatic exchange of Information (AEOI). This meeting resulted in further meeting of Adhia, and Switzerland’s State Secretary for International Financial Matters Jacques de Watteville, on 15^th of June, in which they agreed to move towards an early agreement for the implementation of AEOI. Also, with the agreement, came the deal that Switzerland will share all the information of bank accounts of Indians as of September 2018 and onwards. Well, if this move has been planned to block cash, then, in addition to all these, foreign account holders must not be allowed to convert cash through Hawala channels and escape. Only, then, the Swiss information will be more effective to act upon.