A group of men listens to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio addresses in Ranchi yesterday.

Agencies/New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday vowed to bring back billions of dollars believed to be illegally stashed in banks abroad by Indians to avoid paying tax, amid a furore over “black money.”

Modi said the money belonged to India’s poor and his government was “on the right track” in efforts to have the funds suspected of being stashed in Swiss and other foreign accounts returned.

“The issue is an article of faith for me,” the prime minister said in a regular Sunday address on national radio, mainly aimed at connecting with the millions of rural poor.

“Every penny of this country’s poor people, which has gone out, should return. This is my commitment,” said Modi who stormed to power in May in a landslide election victory.

The comments come just days after Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led government submitted a list to the Supreme Court of 627 people suspected of parking black money in Swiss bank accounts beyond the reach of tax authorities.

The government was initially accused of seeking to shield powerful people after it argued against handing over the names to the court.

Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based group that tracks money transfers, said Indians surreptitiously shifted $344bn overseas between 2002 and 2011, depriving India of vital tax revenues.

But that money is a fraction of illicit funds and assets concealed in India, experts say.

Modi pledged during his high-octane election campaign to “bring back black money within 100 days” of being elected, after accusing the previous Congress-led government of failing to crack down on the issue.

Anti-corruption activists petitioned the Supreme Court seeking the names of wealthy Indians under scrutiny by the new government for allegedly hiding funds offshore.

“From what I understand and based on the information I have, I am telling you that we are on the right track,” Modi said of the ongoing probe into black money.

After winning power, Modi set up a special investigative team comprising regulators and ex-judges to identify illicit fund-holders and repatriate money.

But they have encountered difficulty obtaining details of account-holders from countries due to financial confidentiality issues.

Modi touched upon a range of subjects including on people’s feedback on the Swachh Bharat (Clean India) campaign and on the human resource development ministry’s effort to help disabled children in the wake of his reference to them in his last radio talk on October 3.

Modi said he would take up the case of drug addiction in his next address.  

He also said that citizens who do not have access to social media and the Internet can write to him and he would seriously consider various suggestions.

The prime minister said his reference to the needs of the specially-abled children during his last radio address had inspired the human resource development ministry to think of schemes to help such children.

One scheme was to provide 1,000 such meritorious children with scholarships to study in technical institutes. The other was to provide Rs100,000 to each Kendriya Vidyalaya and central university to create infrastructure for the disabled such as ramps and special toilets.

The prime minister expressed happiness at the results of the Swachh Bharat campaign, which he said had taken the form of a “jan andolan” or mass movement.

He said people, even children, were now taking care to throw chocolate wrappers in dustbins.

Referring to his last radio talk when he urged people to purchase at least one item of khadi, the prime minister said the Khadi Gram Udyog Bhavan had reported that their sales had gone up by 125%.

Saying that a new change was sweeping through Indian society, Modi said when people come to visit him, they speak a lot about the problems of the society and how they can help - and less about their own issues.