Names of tax defaulters to be made public: FM

New Delhi: Names of chronic income tax defaulters would be made public as part of government's crackdown on tax evasion and black money.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee disclosed Sunday that the government was working on a number of strategic initiatives to curb generation of black money and for its detection, including the feasibility and methodology of putting the names of chronic tax defaulters in public domain.

The minister, who unveiled the steps taken by the government to deal with black money and corruption, hit out at BJP and other political parties for attacking the UPA on its track record.

He said the BJP, which was in power for six years at the Centre, and CPI, whose late Indirajit Gupta was Home Minister for over one-and-a-half years, had done precious little to deal with corruption and black money.

Mukherjee said that details of assets and payments received by Indian citizens in several countries have "started flowing in" and were being investigated.

Information about wealth stashed away in Swiss banks by Indians was expected before year-end, he said, pointing out that New Delhi has signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty withy Berne.

It was likely to be ratified by the Swiss Parliament by September and information about tax avoidance should be available thereafter.

Information on assets and payments received by Indian citizens was under different stages of processing, he said.

On various estimates of Indian money stashed away abroad, including the figure of USD 468 billion, Mukherjee said, "This is just playing to the gallery."

PTI