India offers amnesty to tax evaders: report

India has offered amnesty to more than 100 wealthy citizens who evaded taxes by hiding funds in accounts at HSBC's Swiss unit, a Bloomberg report said today, citing a government official with knowledge of the matter.

The income tax department has agreed not to initiate criminal proceedings or levy a penalty if the Indians repatriated the money from Geneva and paid the taxes, according to the official, who asked not to be identified because the information was confidential. He also declined to name anyone on the list, according to Bloomberg.

India has been one of the countries alongside the UK and the US cracking down on rich people who have not disclosed offshore funds amid probes into money laundering and tax evasion.

A British millionaire was convicted this month for secreting money in HSBC's Swiss bank in the first case to come before a London court on the basis of data that the UK obtained from France in 2010.

India has extended the offer to some people who were on a list of 700 citizens with HSBC accounts in Geneva that was given to the South Asian nation's government by French authorities last year, according to the official, who did not provide additional details. The government meanwhile is investigating other people on that list, according to the person.

France came to possess data on accounts held at HSBC in Geneva after a bank employee, Herve Falciani, stole information connected to at least 24,000 current and former clients, the London-based lender said in March 2010.