Dealing With The Menace Of Black Money

“The people have chosen a government and they expect so much from it. In 2014 so many people voted to free the nation from corruption” – Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi

Big data analytics has already established itself as a key decision-making tool and as the technology advances and fuses itself with the economic environment, big data analytics will keep up its dynamic characteristics. Big data analytics donned a new role when the income-tax department decided to use analytical tools to track down black money hoarders. These analytical tools were previously used to track corporate tax evasions, and now they have been implemented on a much bigger platform. The analytical tools will track personal bank deposits made by individuals and segregate black money hoarders from genuine tax-payers.

How does the analytical tool work?
Apart from giving the details of cash deposited in banks by an individual, the analytical tools can provide the following:

1. Details of income tax paid over the years by an individual
2. Corporate tax paid by an individual’s company
3. The number of people the individual employees
4. Whether those employees have recently made any deposits or transactions
5. Details related to the individual’s tax history can also be mapped

All these collected data will be compiled into the system, in terms of Big Data, a Node Tree will be created and all the connections will be like the Edges or branches of that node tree.

Being a CTO of a digital products company, I believe that the world will be a better place if these kinds of disruptive technologies are used frequently. For Big Data Analytics, the government can better use these tools to trace black money hoarders. So, what are those countermeasures that could help in making it possible? Well, effective use of big data technology can help in gathering information about monetary embezzlement and unusual activities in cash flows.

One of the biggest advantages of using big data analytical tools is that they can be used to look into inconsistencies in transactions done over a certain period of time. The tax department will be able to compare corporate tax data and personal tax data including the tax returns of individuals, tax paid by the companies owned by individuals, and other related issues.
In case the analytical tool discovers discrepancies in the transaction pattern, it could raise the red flag for the accounts in question and the tax department officials will be able to locate the discrepancy using the edges of the node tree of the individual, and the individuals or companies linked to the node tree.

By making better use of disruptive technologies like Angular.Js, Node.js, Cassandra, Spark, Force Layout Graphs, etc. data provided by banks can be analyzed more effectively. Things will become more transparent and hence government and text departments can get the direct benefits.

As per the bill passed by the Lok Sabha for amendment of Section 115BBE of the Income Tax Act, tax officers can tax inconsistent or unexplained bank deposits at 60% (plus cess) as against 30% earlier. Based on the discrepancies in the bank accounts, tax officials will then issue notices to the individuals after December 31st. Using the advancement in technology in our favor is the solution that the world looks for. We also should keep progressing with a mindset of sustainable development.