New Delhi: When India's rich and famous descended on Mohali on March 30 to watch the World Cup cricket semi-final between India and Pakistan, they wouldn't have expected the taxman to take notice.
The chaos that day at Chandigarh's small military airport, which saw 65 aircraft-mostly private jets-landing, seems to have made the tax sleuths sit up and take notice. The Income-Tax Department has asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for ownership details of private jets in the country.
It has also sought information from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence on Customs clearances given to aircraft, luxury yachts and flashy sports cars.
"Despite an increase in possession of such items, wealth tax collections have largely remained stagnant over the past several years," an I-T Department official said, explaining the rationale for an investigation.
"We believe there is a need for a deeper investigation on this count," he said.
The fast-growing Indian economy has seen the emergence of a large number of billionaires who can afford such luxury items. There were 335 private planes in India in 2006-170 fixed-wing planes and 165 helicopters. In 2010, the number rose to 552 -270 fixed-wing planes and 282 helicopters.
30/04/11 Deepshikha Sikarwar/Economic Times
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