Over the past decade, Indian tax authorities have raised tax and penalty demands worth more than ₹40,564 crore on undisclosed foreign assets under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Act, 2015. However, the government has clarified that there is no official estimate of how much black money has actually flowed out of India during this period.
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed Parliament that the term “black money” does not appear in either the Income Tax Act or the Black Money Act. Yet, enforcement data under these laws reveal the government’s efforts to combat offshore tax evasion.
When the Act came into effect in July 2015, the government opened a three-month compliance window. During that time, 684 declarations worth ₹4,164 crore were made, leading to collections of ₹2,476 crore as taxes and penalties.
Till 30 June 2025, the authorities completed 1,087 assessments and recovered about ₹339 crore so far, with further amounts pending resolution of appeals.
The minister also reiterated that deposits by Indians in Swiss banks cannot be directly linked to black money. Through the Automatic Exchange of Information framework, India now receives annual data from Switzerland and over 100 other jurisdictions to track offshore assets more effectively.
