City of ploy: Surat beats Kolkata to become India's new shell firm capital

(Business Standard) - Surat has replaced Kolkata to become the new capital of shell firms that evade taxes. According to the Income Tax (I-T) department, a majority of the companies featuring on the new list of shell firms provided by the government are based in Surat. Kolkata had topped the first list. The tax department began tightening the noose around shell firms earlier this year, as more details about such companies came to light after demonetisation. In the new list, tax officials have found that over 80 per cent of the 2,138 shell firms, which had deposited unaccounted cash of at least Rs 5,000 crore during the note ban, were from Surat. The tax department expects this number to go up.