Rs 786,27,00,000! Amount of black money seized in FY10

The government has seized over Rs 1,764 crore (Rs 17.64 billion) of unaccounted income in the last three financial years, with sectors like real estate, manufacturing and mining generating the most of it, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

Total assets seized by the income tax department in 2009-10 amounted to Rs 786.27 crore (Rs 7.863 billion), up from Rs 550.23 crore (Rs 5.502 billion) in 2008-09, Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam told the Rajya Sabha.

In 2007-08, Rs 427.82 crore (Rs 4.278 billion) was seized as the unaccounted money, he said.

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"Generation and circulation of unaccounted money is found to be prevalent in real estate, manufacturing sector, mining, education, healthcare and various other sectors," the minister said in a written reply.

Even as the amount of unaccounted money unearthed over the years has been on the rise, with last fiscal registering a rise of 43 per cent over 2008-09, the government said there was no plans to assess the extent of black money in the economy.

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"There is no official estimate of the extent of unaccounted income/ wealth in the country as on date. . . At present, there is no proposal to make any fresh assessment," Palanimanickam said.

In 1985, the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, at the instance of the government, had conducted a study -- Aspects of black money in India -- in which the amount of black money in the country in 1983-84 was estimated to be between Rs 31,584 crore (Rs 315.84 billion) and Rs 36,786 crore (Rs 367.86 billion).