So you saw the internet going gaga over a Surat diamond businessman surrendering Rs 6000 crore as cash to the government. Many on Twitter questioned if other businessmen and tax evaders will follow in to the footsteps of Laljibhai and deposit their black money in banks.
First lets look at the math of it. First question, did he really have Rs 6000 crore cash dumped in his house? Imagining he did and believing he indeed surrendered the amount, here’s what he would have to pay as taxes. First a 30 per cent tax on Rs 6000 crore and then a 200 per cent penalty on the tax. That makes it Rs 5400 crore as taxes. The possibility of this insane amount of black-money being recovered by the government, made many on Twitter and Facebook bill it as an evidence of the success of Narendra Modi government’s demonetisation policy.
HATS OFF….to Laljibhai Patel https://t.co/z5RPJD1VbK
— vandana jain (@vandanajain24) November 14, 2016
As unbelievable a story as it was, we still gave Laljibhai Patel the benefit of doubt and called up his office in Surat. Some Nilesh from his office picked up our call and said that Laljibhai Patel himself has said the story was fake. Nilesh is part of the online department of the Surat office of Laljipatel’s Dharmanandan Diamonds.
He also said that there were already some reports in the local media negating these false social media claims. We found a a clip of ABP Ashmita, where Laljibhai clarifies that the social media messages doing the rounds mistakenly identifies him as a builder while he is a diamond merchant. Also, he says the social media messages about him surrendering a massive amount of black money is false.
Patel is known for being very benevolent towards his employees. He not only gifts them cars, jewellery and other expensive items for gifts, earlier this year, he also made a Rs 200-cr donation for 10,000 girls. You wouldn’t be surprised to know, he is the same man who bought the two-piece bandhgala pinstripe suit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a whopping Rs.4.31 crore.
According to a Mint report, his company does a revenue of Rs 6000 crore annually, a figure that has been quoted by many netizens as the amount of money he surrendered to the government. According to a rediff.com report, he is the seventh richest jeweller in India. His net worth stands at Rs $480 million.
So, in these difficult times, just don’t believe in anything and everything you read on the net.
