Since the time the whole episode of bringing back of black money of Indians into the country has come to the limelight, one can't fail to miss the name of a new country, existing on the world map. New, because most of us would have not heard its name before, which has been in existence for centuries now. Yes we are talking of Liechtenstein.

Liechtenstein, as Google describes it, is a doubly land-locked German-speaking nation bordered by Switzerland and Austria, having a population of barely 36,000 persons. This small country is so rich that it holds the record for world's second highest GDP per person. The country is a low tax jurisdiction. However, since it does not have a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with India, it has not become a destination for routing investments through other tax-havens like Mauritius.   

Germany had provided the Indian Government with names of 26 persons and trusts having secret accounts with Liechtenstein's LGT Bank, some two years ago. Names of these account holders were made public recently, which included diamond merchants and Chennai based businessman.

However, since India does not have any bilateral treaty with Liechtenstein, it cannot seek any administrative assistance or details on Indian clients of LGT Bank, which is quite unfortunate for our country.

Rough estimates suggest that unaccounted wealth by residents in offshore destinations could be a whopping US $ 1.7 trillion or Rs. 77 lakh crore, higher than our annual GDP of US $ 1.3 trillion. Even if a fraction of this unaccounted wealth or black money could be brought back, either through amnesty route or via other means, it would suffice to meet India's infrastructure and development needs.