Modi’s next target to be ill gotten properties
After illegal cash, the Narendra Modi government in India is going after properties bought through illicit funds - a move that experts say could prove as challenging as demonetising currency. Prime Minister Modi said the authorities will soon start implementing a new law against "benami" property, or real estate that an individual buys under a fictitious name or someone else's name, instead of using his own name. Benami is a Hindi word for "without name". The law, an amended version of an earlier law passed by Parliament in August, metes out up to seven years' jail for those guilty of buying property in another person's name and not being able to explain the source of their money. "This is just the beginning. We have to win this battle and the question of feeling exhausted or stopping simply does not arise," said Mr Modi on Sunday in his regular radio programme Mann Ki Baat, or "matter of the heart" in Hindi. "We are going to take action against the properties which are purchased in the name of others," he added. Over the past two years, the government has been trying to go after firms and Indians who send money abroad illegally to avoid taxes. The government's boldest step came last month when it demonetised 500- and 1,000-rupee notes, the two highest denomination notes in India, to target those who were stashing away unaccounted wealth in cash. But the unpopular move has thrown the country into a tailspin, with cash in short supply and Mr Modi coming under fire from critics who note that only 6 per cent of unaccounted wealth in India is held in cash. Most is estimated to be parked in real estate and gold, with no real data on the sizes of these holdings.
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