The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has described India as a “strong champion” of global tax transparency, citing significant progress in curbing offshore tax evasion through data-driven compliance initiatives.

In an interview with PTI, Zayda Manatta, Head of the OECD Secretariat, said India’s commitment to international transparency standards and automatic exchange of information has delivered notable results, including disclosures of undisclosed foreign assets worth over Rs 29,000 crore.

Manatta, who was in New Delhi for the OECD Global Forum plenary held from December 2 to 4, said India has been actively supporting the forum since 2009 and continues to meet all requirements related to tax transparency and information exchange. The forum has 172 member countries.

She highlighted the impact of India’s Non-Intrusive Usage of Data to Guide and Enable (NUDGE) programme, launched by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). The initiative led to a 45.17 per cent rise in taxpayers reporting foreign assets, with additional disclosures of Rs 29,208 crore in assets and Rs 1,089 crore in foreign income.

The first NUDGE campaign, launched in November 2024, targeted taxpayers flagged through the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) framework for non-disclosure of overseas assets. A second campaign has been rolled out for the 2025–26 assessment year.

Manatta noted that globally, the AEOI regime enabled the exchange of data on 171 million financial accounts worth €13 trillion in 2024. She added that the OECD is expanding cooperation to cover new asset classes such as crypto, with data exchange under the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework expected from 2027.