NEW DELHI: Tens of thousands of Indians have declared a total of $9.5 billion in "black money" as part of a one-time opportunity to come clean under a government programme, India's finance minister said on Saturday.
The declarations by 64,275 people came in a four-month window that ended on Friday, allowing illegal income and asset holders to pay a tax, surcharge and penalty totalling 45% to avoid prosecution, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said at a news conference.
A similar amnesty in Indonesia has brought in about $7.45 billion in tax revenue so far, officials said in Jakarta this weekend.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi won elections in 2014 promising to curb corruption, the flow of black money abroad and lack of financial transparency.
The government has been facing opposition pressure to act since the April release of financial documents naming companies and individuals who may have dodged taxes by setting up shell companies and accounts through brokers based in Panama. The Panama Papers include the names of about 500 Indians who have invested in offshore companies.
Jaitley said that a previous amnesty in 1997 had yielded $1.5 billion to the government.