Calling it a significant amount, finance minister Arun Jaitley has said that black money worth Rs 65,250 crore has been disclosed under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) so far. Addressing a press conference in Delhi on Saturday, Jaitley said that total number of declarants were 64,275. However, the minister added that the figure could be revised upwards once final tabulation is made. Also, from HSBC list tax assessment for Rs 8,000 crore has been completed. The finance minister also said that Rs 56,378 undetected income has been uncovered through search operations.

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The money that has been collected will go into a consolidated fund and will be used for public welfare, he further said.

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Jaitley pointed out the need to spend more on social and rural sector. The minister refused to give away any information of tax declarants under the scheme. The IDS scheme was launched on June 1 and was closed on September 30. It was different from the previous schemes targeting black money in one crucial aspect: it was not an amnesty scheme but the central board of direct taxes (CBDT) charged a total tax of 45 percent including 30 percent tax, 7.5 percent penalty fee and 7.5 percent surcharge.

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There was a lot of apprehension on whether this scheme would cross the mark of the 1997 Voluntary Disclosure Scheme (VDIC) that was launched by the then finance minister P Chidambaram. VDIC had generated Rs 33,000 crore in declarations.

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