Did not make prediction that govt expects all demonetised money to come back to system: Revenue Secretary
IN response to an Indian Express story, Revenue Secretary Dr Hasmukh Adhia says,
It is very strange that only Indian Express has reported this statement in the headlines while no other news persons who were present there have reported this.
I would like to emphasise that I did not make any such prediction that the Government expects all demonetised money to come back to the system. The question asked was that 'what happens if all the money is coming back to the banks'. In response, I said that 'merely bringing money to banking channels does not make it white until tax is paid on the same'. I, therefore, mentioned that even if all the old money comes to the banking channels, Income Tax Department would be able to see the trail of money coming from various individuals and we would be able to recover tax on the same along with penalty, wherever applicable.
While all other newspapers, including PTI, have reported this as the main substance of my reply, only Indian Express seems to have drawn a different conclusion of this reply and has put this in form of a headline as if the Government has already concluded that the entire money is going to come back. I may like to point out that it is not possible for me to make such a prediction and there is no reason why I should make such prediction prematurely.
Kerala's JNU alumnus Finance Minister Dr. Thomas Isaac reacted to the Revenue Secretary's reported comments - "I was wrong; I had said that 90-95% of the demonetised 500 and 1000 rupee notes will return to the banks; now the Revenue Secretary says that all the notes will come back. Where then did the black money go?"