Agency to be made economic intelligence think tank.
The finance ministry has decided to empower and modernise the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) and wants it to be the main economic intelligence research and analysis think tank of the government.
A senior finance ministry official told Business Standard that economic intelligence data from different agencies were piling up and there was a need to quickly empower a central agency for collating and analysing the information for further use, in a manner required under the changing scenario.
| INTELLIGENCE IMPLEMENTATION |
| * Revenue department asked to review S S Khan committee report on the matter and suggest an implementation module |
| * The finance ministry plan is to strengthen CEIB for combating serious economic offences and organised tax evasion |
| * It has called for partnerships between the CEIB and enforcement and regulatory agencies both at central and state levels |
He said the revenue department has been asked to review the report of the S S Khan committee on the matter and suggest an implementation module. “The idea is to make CEIB the kind of nodal agency needed for this purpose, which will co-ordinate with all the agencies collecting economic intelligence information so that credible analysis was available on time for taking policy and corrective actions,” said the official.
The finance ministry’s plan is to strengthen CEIB on the basis of the model prepared by the revenue department based on the Khan committee recommendations expeditiously, so that effective tools could be developed for curbing tax evasion.
The report has suggested that in view of the growing complexity and sophistication of economic offences, collaboration across the spectrum of agencies engaged in enforcement of economic laws should be the central tenet of the government’s strategy for combating serious economic offences and organised tax evasion.
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It has recommended setting-up a collaborative “hub and spoke” structure of partnerships between the CEIB and other enforcement and regulatory agencies at both the central and state levels.
The proposal was to make CEIB the nodal agency for maintaining a comprehensive national database of specified types of economic offences investigated by the agencies. The agencies will share information with the CEIB, which, in turn, will be able to provide back-end support, linkages and insights.
The committee has also recommended a series of steps to empower and modernise the CEIB and equip it with IT-enabled tools to effectively perform its role under the changing economic scenario.
At present, intelligence gathering and data collection is being done by various agencies under the revenue department, including the Central Information Bureau on income tax and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence on indirect taxes. Information on high-value transactions is also coming to the IT department through Annual Information Return and the normal investigation route.
Different tools have been developed to identify tax evasion cases by both the Central Board of Direct Taxes and Central Board of Excise and Customs.
However, the absence of a capable central agency for collecting and compiling the data and comprehensively analysing these for further use has not allowed the revenue department to use the information adequately. An empowered CEIB may also fill this gap.