All About Foreign Bank Accounts

In the midst of all the noise and breast-beating about black money, here are the facts:

It is not a crime to hold a bank account outside India.Mere holding of an account outside India does not mean that the amount is tax evaded or black money.The RBI allows Indians to hold foreign accounts in certain cases:

1.Non-residents who have returned to India after 1-year can maintain accounts that have income earned outside.

2.Individuals can open, maintain and hold foreign currency accounts with banks outside India for carrying out transactions permitted under the liberalized remittances schemes.

Revealing details of all foreign bank accounts would be a breach of privacy .The information could be misused unscrupulous elements.Most countries provide information about foreign bank accounts only if there is evidence of wrong doing. The government can also make accounts public if it is able to establish tax evasion and launch prosecution as it has done here: Link. Read more of this post