Finance Minister Jaitley gets poorer by ₹2.83 crore in FY16

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has seen his assets decline by ₹2.83 crore in the fiscal year ended March 2016 to ₹68.41 crore due to fall in his cash balances in bank accounts.

 

In his declaration of Assets and Liabilities for 2015-16, posted on the PMO website, Jaitley said the value of his immovable properties including residential buildings and land remained unchanged at ₹34.49 crore as compared to 2014-15 fiscal.

 

His bank balance in four bank accounts declined to ₹1 crore from ₹3.52 crore at the end of March 31, 2015. Deposits in other companies, including Enpro Oils Ltd and DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd were unchanged at ₹17 crore.

 

His cash-in-hand dropped to ₹65.29 lakh from ₹95.35 lakh in March 2015. This together with PPF and other investments totalled to ₹11 crore, down from ₹11.24 crore.

 

The value of his gold, silver and diamond holdings increased to ₹1.86 crore at the end of March 2016, from ₹1.76 crore in March 2015.

 

While the valuation of his gold jewellery holding has gone up to ₹1.35 crore from ₹1.25 crore in March 2015, the cost of silver holding has come down to ₹5.54 crore at the end of March 2016.

 

The valuation of his diamond holding has remained unchanged ₹45 lakh.

 

With regards to his vehicles, at the end of March 2016 the Minister has four cars -- two Mercedes, one Honda Accord and a Toyota Fortuner -- which have been financed through his personal earnings and savings, the disclosure said.

 

At the end of March this year, the valuation of his vehicles came down to ₹1.93 crore, from ₹2.79 crore.

 

In 2014-15 fiscal, the Minister had five cars, including a BMW, which did not figure in the 2015-2016 declarations.

 

Taking into account the assets, including gold, silver, diamonds and bank and cash balance, held by his wife Sangeeta Jaitley, the total asset of the minister comes to ₹68.41 crore at the end of March 2016. It was ₹71.24 crore in March 2015.

 

The Finance Minister, jointly with his wife, owns six residential properties -- three in Delhi and one each in Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab. Sangeeta Jaitley holds one bank account in HDFC Bank, which has a balance of Rs 69.43 crore.

 

As per the disclosure, the cash in hand stood at Rs 6.82 lakh, and her PPF stood at Rs 13.80 lakh. Taking together cash in hand and PPF, the total of movable assets held by her stood at Rs 20.62 lakh at the end of March 2016.

 

The details of liabilities of Sangeeta Jaitley showed that the total loans taken by her stood at Rs 9.71 crore. This includes Rs 9.22 crore loan taken from Arun Jaitley and another Rs 49.25 lakh borrowed from daughter Sonali Jaitley.