In the aftermath of the ban of high value currency notes, the Finance Ministry has informed Public Accounts Committee that no fake currency notes (FCNs) were seized by the agencies during the demonetisation drive from November 8 to December 30.
Responding to a specific question by the PAC on seizing of counterfeit notes, the ministry said, “No counterfeit currency have been seized by agencies under CBEC (Central Board of Excise and Customs) since 8th November 2016 till 30th December 2016.”
It also revealed that a total amount of Rs 474.47 crore was seized by the Income Tax Department in new and old currency notes from different Indian nationals during that period. The ministry, however, told PAC that there is no information on whether those persons were terrorists or smugglers.
Of the total cash seizure, Rs 112.29 crore was in new currency.
Further, the ministry stated that there was a 100 per cent increase in seizure of valuables and 51 per cent increase in undisclosed income admitted from April to December 2016 when compared to 2015.
Listing the pros of the note ban, the ministry told that there was a 12.01 percent increase in the net collection of direct tax, net growth of 24.6 per cent in personal income tax collections and 14.4 per cent in advance collection during the demonetisation drive period in 2016.
“CIT (corporate income tax) advance tax is growing at 10.6 per cent while PIT (personal income tax) advance tax has registered a growth of 38.2 per cent,” the ministry said in response to queries on demonetisation.
