Financial Transparency Coalition

This study examines the magnitude of illicit financial flows from India, analyzing the drivers and dynamics of these flows in the context of far-ranging reform. In the process, it represents perhaps the most comprehensive study on the subject matter, both in terms of the range of issues involved and the time span covered. At its heart is a dynamic simulation model which seeks to capture the interaction of economic, structural, and governance issues that underlie the generation and crossborder transfer of illicit capital.

NEW DELHI: India and Norway are all set to expand the scope of their double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) to facilitate greater information exchange on potential cases of tax evasion. After changes to the Indo-Swiss tax treaty this would be the second such treaty that would be reworked to ensure smooth flow of information on tax-related issues.

Cumulative Illicit Financial Flows out of India from 2000-2008 Total Over US$125 Billion

India’s economic boom continues with an average growth rate of over eight percent between 2004 and 2009 by GFI calculations. As the money flows, however, the poor continue to stay poor. Corruption is rampant in India as it is in almost all developing countries. Both corrupt political and corporate officers manage to siphon off funds – intended to aid the people of India – off to political and private sector elite. Recent efforts in India to challenge this corrupt affront on humanity have been met with severe...

On Monday, amid much fanfare, Switzerland signed a revised double tax treaty with India, concerning exchange of information between the two jurisdictions (for general background on what tax treaties and TIEAs are, see here.) Recently, we blogged Indian concerns about the OECD's standard of information exchange, and we have written extensively on the OECD standards themselves, calling them woefully inadequate and noting that they are emphtically not, as the OECD likes to assert, the "internationally accepted standard." It may be a sign of the pressures that developing countries are under that...