The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, on Tuesday said the Government has constituted a multi-disciplinary committee to get studies conducted to estimate the quantum of illicit funds generated by Indian citizens. He also spelt out a five-point strategy that the Government was adopting to address the issue of black money.

Stating that the estimates put out by various panels such as the BJP Task Force 2009 and Global Financial Integrity were based on “unverifiable assumptions and approximations,” Mr Mukherjee told a press conference here that the multi-disciplinary committee will also consult experts and find out a mechanism through which estimation was possible.

Three institutions — the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), National Institute of Finance Management (NIFM) and National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) — have been tasked with conducting the studies. Mr Mukherjee said that he had requested the committee to submit its report “as expeditiously as possible”.

The interim recommendations of the BJP Task Force 2009 had estimated the amount of black money to be between $500 billion and $1,400 billion. A current study by Global Financial Integrity had estimated the present value of illicit money outflow to be $462 billion.

On whether the Government proposes to come up with an “amnesty scheme” to bring back the unaccounted money stashed by Indians in foreign banks, Mr Mukherjee said that a group has been constituted within the Revenue Department to look into this matter.

>krsrivats@thehindu.co.in

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