Surat is the new shell firm capital Surat has replaced Kolkata as the new capital of shell firms that evade taxes.According to the income tax (IT) department,a majority of the companies featuring on the new list of firms provided by the government are based in Kolkata had topped the first list. The tax department began tightening the noose shell firms earlier this year, as more details such companies to light after In the new list, tax have found over 80 per cent of the 2,138 shell firms, which deposited unaccounted cash of at least Rs 5,000 crore during the note ban, were from Surat. The tax department expects this number to go up.This list featured 5,800 shell companies, shortlisted by the finance ministry, which had deposits of Rs17,000 crore in near zero balance accounts after demonetisation and nearly an equal amount of withdrawal thereafter. Earlier, the tax department had identified 16,000 shell firms floated in Kolkata between 2011 and 2015, to launder money.The probe