Pankaj Chaudhary. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has declared nine defaulters as Fugitive Economic Offenders, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed Parliament on July 30.

“The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA) has been enacted for the attachment and confiscation of property of a fugitive economic offender,” he said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

Further, he said, “In the case of accused who fled abroad, the ED has declared nine of them as Fugitive Economic Offenders (FEO) under the provisions of FEOA.”

“Also, 25 extradition requests have also been sent, in respect of 16 accused who fled abroad. In addition to this, assets amounting to ₹725.90 crore have been confiscated under the provisions of FEOA,” he added.

With regard to bad loans, he said, “Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) have made an aggregate recovery of ₹6,82,328 crore in NPA accounts, including written-off loans, during the last five financial years.”

The gross NPA ratio of SCBs has declined to 2.75% as of March 31, 2024 (as per RBI provisional data) from a peak of 11.18% as of March 31, 2018.

Replying to another question, Mr. Chaudhary said debt write-offs by public sector banks have declined to ₹1.14 lakh crore in 2023-24 compared to ₹1.18 lakh crore in the previous year.

“The number of frauds (₹1 lakh and above), amount involved, and amount recovered, as reported by the banks under the category ‘Credit Cards, ATM / Debit Cards and Internet Banking’ has increased nearly five times to 29,082 involving amount of Rs 1,457 crore,” Mr. Chaudhary said in another reply.

As against this, he said, the number of such incidences was 6,699 involving amount of ₹277 crore.

Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Choudhary. File

The number of Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) availing tax benefits under the Income Tax Act stood at almost 8.76 lakh in 2022-23, the lowest in at least five years. The impact on their tax treatment under a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has not yet been examined, the Finance Ministry informed Parliament on July 25.

Responding to a query on whether the Government has assessed the impact of Uniform Civil Code on tax benefits to HUFs in the country from Janata Dal MP Ram Nath Thakur, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Choudhary said there has been no such assessment “as there is no such Code at present.”

Under the Income Tax Act, an HUF is treated as a ‘person’ and is assigned a separate entity for the purpose of assessment. Under Hindu Law, an HUF is a family which consists of all persons lineally descended from a common ancestor and includes their wives and unmarried daughters. Jain and Sikh families, even though they are not governed by the Hindu Law, are also treated as HUFs under the Act.

While there were more than 9.25 lakh HUFs who availed tax benefits in 2020-21, this number dropped to around 8.77 lakh in 2021-22 and further to a little under 8.76 lakh families last year.