According to studies conducted by three premier financial institutes – NIPFP, NCAER and NIFM – unaccounted wealth held by Indians abroad amounts close to $490 billion or ₹34 lakh crore.
The figure does not include black money stocked within the country in sectors like mining, real estate, education, etc.
The studies that were sponsored by the then-UPA government were initiated in 2011 and took into consideration the amount that went out of the country in between 1997 and 2009, reports Times of India.
These figures were given out as part of the report of the standing committee on finance, tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday, June 24.
Though these three agencies started the process together, they had their own respective estimates.
The National Institute of Public Policy and Finance (NIPFP) claimed there was an illicit financial flow of 0.2% to 7.4% of the total GDP, whereas, The National Council of Applied Economics & Research (NCAER) found that the unaccounted wealth outside India ranges between $384 billion and $490 billion from 1980 to 2000.
Lastly, the National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM) found the total flow of unaccounted wealth to be approximately ₹9,41,837 crore.
The standing committee report, tabled on Monday, was first submitted to the panel headed by M Veerappa Moily to the Lok Sabha speaker on March 28.