Amid increasing cases of tax evasion, frauds and corruption, Indian government on Tuesday announced it would revamp its nodal economic intelligence agency. President Pratibha Patil has sanctioned the constitution of a committee that will make recommendation to restructure the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), the finance ministry said in a statement.
CEIB is the nodal agency responsible for economic intelligence, and monitoring and fighting economic offences like tax evasion, money laundering and smuggling.
The four-member committee will study the CEIB’s structure and make recommendations to “streamline and strengthen the existing financial intelligence gathering and its dissemination”.
The committee will submit it report to the government within two months.
The committee includes S.S. Khan, a former member of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Vijay Lakshmi Sharma, a member of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), Kewal Ram, senior economic advisor in the consumer affairs department, and a CEIB representative.
