Under IT lens: After demonetization, deposits of over Rs 2 lakh net Rs 7 lakh crore

The bigger the deposits in banks since the demonetisation drive, the earlier you will get a notice from the income tax department.

Officials said accounts in which deposits of Rs 2 lakh and more were made since November 8 are under scrutiny. Rs 7 lakh crore was deposited in more than 60 lakh such accounts since the government banned high-value banknotes, they added.

The department suspects a part of the illicit cash in circulation before the government banned high-value banknotes may have come back into the banking system through such big deposits.

While investigations into individual cases may take more than a year, all notices are expected to be sent out by March 31, the officials added.

Transactions in bank accounts that remained dormant till November or new ones are also being monitored and banks have been asked to send reports on these.

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After the initial round of examination based on data analytics and response of the account holders under the scanner, the department will send specific notices, a senior government official told Hindustan Times.

“The IT department has huge data…we will use data analytics to segregate genuine and non-genuine cases…though the deposit amount will matter while sending notices, it will also largely depend on the other parameters,” the official said.

The IT department has already sent out over 5,000 notices.

“We can also assure people that we will not blindly send notices as that would lead to harassment but people with discrepancy in their incomes and deposits need to worry,” the official added.

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