What will the Task Force do?
- Task Force is constituted to crack down on Benami Firms.
- It will include members from various regulatory Ministries and enforcement agencies.
- The involved agencies will invoke the stringent Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016 against the shell companies and freeze their accounts and strike off the names of dormant companies.
- It will also initiate disciplinary action against professionals abetting the companies and entry operators, who are used to launder unaccounted-for incomes into the banking system for projecting them as white money
Why is it needed?
- There are about 15 lakh registered companies in India, but only 6 lakh of them file their annual returns.
- It has raised suspicion that a large number of these companies are indulging in financial irregularities.
- During a small sample analysis of such companies conducted by Government has found that Rs.1,238 crore in cash was deposited in these entities during the November-December 2016 period, after demonetisation.