New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS): The Income Tax Department conducted searches on a business group engaged in tiles and sanitary ware maker based out of Chennai, resulting in the detection of undisclosed income worth Rs 220 crore.

A Finance Ministry statement, which did not disclose the name of the group, said that the search was conducted at 11 premises, and surveys were done in nine premises of the group in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Kolkata on Friday, February 26.

In the course of the search, unaccounted sale and purchase of tiles were detected and details of unaccounted transactions were unearthed in the secret office and the software maintained in the cloud, it said.

"It was found that the transactions to the extent of 50 per cent were out of books. Considering the previous turnover, the suppression of income may be in the range of Rs 120 crore. This is in addition to Rs 100 crore of undisclosed income introduced by the group as share premium through shell companies," it said.

Total undisclosed income detected so far comes to Rs 220 crore, it said, adding that cash of around Rs 8.30 crore was also found and seized.

Search action was still on and investigations were in progress.

The official statement said that the Income Tax Department remained committed to track the generation of unaccounted cash and its movement in Tami Nadu and Puducherry.