Black money: SIT says Rs.4,479 crore in HSBC

New Delhi: The government Friday said Rs.4,479 crore is held in Swiss bank accounts owned by Indians who figured in the HSBC Bank list and the Income Tax Department has initiated action against 79 such account holders.

The concerned authorities are also probing cases involving unaccounted wealth totalling Rs.14,957.95 crore within India, the finance ministry said while releasing relevant portions of the second report of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money.

In case of money stashed in foreign accounts, the disclosure relates to 628 Indians, who figured on a list of account holders in HSBC's Geneva branch that India has obtained from the France.

Of these, no balance has been found in 289 accounts, according to the SIT report submitted to the Supreme Court.

"Out of the 628 persons, 201 are either non-residents or non-traceable, leaving 427 cases as actionable," the statement said.

"An amount of Rs.2,926 crore has been brought to tax towards the undisclosed balances in the accounts (79)," it said.

"Penalty proceedings under Income Tax Act, 1961 have been initiated in 46 cases. Such penalties have been levied in three cases so far. With regard to other assesses, proceedings are pending," it added.

Prosecutions have been initiated in six cases for wilful attempts to evade taxes and show cause notices issued in 10 others.

"In other cases, necessary action is being expedited and substantial progress is expected in coming months," it added.

Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said at a function here that proceedings in the cases related to the HSBC list will be completed by March 31, next year.