Black hole in the economy

the fact that the estimates of the size of the black economy in India varied from 7 per cent to 120 per cent of GDP is a matter of surprise - and some concern

On the highly complex and emotive issue of black money, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance in March tabled its 73rd report on the status of unaccounted wealth.

One of the highlights of the report, titled the “Status of Unaccounted Income/ Wealth both Inside and Outside Country —A critical analysis”,  was that three leading economic institutes of India, working under identical terms of reference, made varying estimates on the size of the black economy. It is obvious that the task of estimating unaccounted income and wealth was going to be a herculean one, given the very emphasis on their “unaccounted” aspect.