The income-tax department has found undisclosed income of more than 200 crore after it recently raided some film producers, distributors and financiers in Tamil Nadu, the CBDT said on Saturday.
The searches were launched on August 2 and about 40 businesses of the entities, which have not been identified, were covered in Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Vellore.
The department claimed to have seized 26 crore unidentified cash and gold jewellery of more than 3 crore during the raids.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes CBDT said in a statement that the search operation has resulted in the detection of undisclosed income of more than 200 crore.
The department has seized a number of documents, digital devices relating to unaccounted cash transactions and investments, even as secret and hidden premises have been unearthed, it said.
The actual amounts realised from the release of films are much more than the amounts shown in the regular books of account, as a result of tax evasion, it said.
The CBDT said that the unaccounted income generated by them is used for investments, as well as for various undisclosed payments.
The Board is the administrative authority for the department.
The statement said that seized documents indicate the collection of unaccounted cash from theatres.
The distributors have systematically suppressed the theatre collections, which has resulted in the suppression of actual income, according to the evidence.
The search operation has resulted in the detection of income of more than 200 crore, according to the CBDT.