New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday said that black money amnesty scheme launched during demonetisation “did not generate good response” with people declaring only Rs 5,000 crore of illicit wealth.
The amnesty scheme — Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana launched in December 2016 — was billed as the last chance for black money holders to come clean. The scheme had closed on March 31.
The scheme had set tough conditions like paying 50 per cent tax and four years interest-free lock-in period for 25 per cent of the declared funds.
“Tax, penalty and provision to keep 25 per cent money in interest free deposit was considered high,” said revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia.
However, finance minister Arun Jaitley said the response to PMGKY should not be seen in isolation.
“You first had the Inc-ome Declaration Scheme (IDS), then you had people depositing cash in banking system knowing it would incur a tax liability and PMGKY was over and above that,” he said.
Under IDS, around Rs 67,382 crore worth blackmoney was declared. The black money brought into the black system during the demonetisation is not known yet.
