Day after GST, Modi says 3 lakh firms under scanner
A day after rolling out GST, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said there are 300,000 companies whose transactions have been identified of suspected dealings, adding that this number may go up further.
“There are questions related to these firms. There is still a lot of data mining left to be done,” Modi said. The Prime Minister was speaking at the foundation day of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Modi said that while businesses were busy in planning on how life will be after the rollout of the goods and services tax, the government deregistered 100,000 companies on Jun 29 on suspicion of irregularities.
“...48 hours ago, I deregistered 100,000 companies in a minute with a stroke of the pen,” Modi said.
The prime minister added that there are several shell companies that are also under the government’s scanner for irregularities.
“The government has identified over 37,000 shell companies which were involved in black money transactions and dealings in hawala transactions. Strict actions are being taken against these companies.”
Modi said stricter investigation will be conducted against the companies that are suspected of irregularities, despite being aware of political consequences of such government action.
“Swiss banks have announced that there has been a 45% reduction in their deposits from India,” he added.
Commenting on persistent tax evasion in India, the prime minister said it was a bitter truth that only 3.2 million Indians have declared income above 1 million rupees, despite crores being in high-end professions.
Modi said his government will take even tougher action against those helping hide black money and is not at all concerned about any political implications of strong moves.