NEW DELHI: PM Modi on Friday listed demonetisation as one of the successful measures undertaken by the government to tackle black money as he urged tax officials to improve the country's tax administration by 2022.Modi's strong defence of the demonetisation drive came two days after the Reserve Bank of India released data which showed 99% of the scrapped high value notes had come back.This has triggered criticism from opposition parties but the government has countered listing several positive effects of the move such as widening of the tax base, increase in digitalisation crackdown on black money and stamping out of terror activities It has also said that demonetisation had helped integrate the informal economy with the formal.Addressing top officers at the annual retreat for tax administration, he said that the government is working towards creation of an environment which shatters the confidence of the corrupt, and instils confidence and trust among the honest taxpayers. Among the other measures that Modi listed were implementation of stringent laws against black money and benami property.Sources said that Modi told officers that demonetisation had helped move undeclared money from lockers to bank accounts and asked officers to mine data for better results. He also suggested that officers should know those with large assets but who are not paying taxes.

Source: Times of India September 02, 2017 00:33 UTC