by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, Finance, Markets, News
New Delhi : The number of taxpayers increased by 19.5 per cent in one year post-demonetisation from 3.25 crore to 3.89 crore, Parliament was told on Friday.
“During the current financial year (up to November 7), 3.89 crore income-tax e-returns were filed as compared to 3.25 crore e-returns filed during corresponding period of the last financial year, which translates into a growth rate of 19.5 per cent,” Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
“The quantum of net direct tax collections in FY 2017-18 (up to November, 2017) has increased to Rs 4.8 lakh crore (provisional) as compared to Rs 4.20 lakh crore collected during corresponding period of last year registering a growth rate of 14.3 per cent,” he added.
Shukla said that during the period from November 2016 to March 2017, the Income Tax Department conducted searches in around 900 groups, wherein undisclosed income of over Rs 7,900 crore was admitted.
“During the same period, more than 8,200 surveys were conducted leading to detection of undisclosed income of more than Rs 6,700 crore.
“Further, during the period from April 2017 to October 2017, around 275 groups were searched by the Income Tax Department in which undisclosed income of over Rs 7,800 crore was admitted.
“During the same period, more than 3,100 surveys were conducted by the department in which undisclosed income of over Rs 2,400 crore was detected,” he said.
Listing out various steps taken by the government to curb cash transactions, the Minister said furnishing PAN was made mandatory for all cash deposits above Rs 50,000 and aggregating to more than Rs 2.5 lakh during the period from November 9, 2016 to December 31, 2016.
“Further, the prescribed reporting entities were mandated to report all cash deposits above Rs 2.5 lakh in savings accounts and Rs 12.5 lakh in current account during the period,” he said adding a restriction on cash transaction of over Rs 2 lakh was also imposed.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
V.K. Sasikala and T.T.V. Dinakaran
Chennai : Income Tax (IT) officials on Thursday raided 187 locations belonging to relatives of jailed AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala, her nephew T.T.V. Dinakaran and organisations connected to them in several cities, said a senior IT official.
He said the search is in connection with unexplained routing of cash post-demonetisation through shell companies connected with them.
Ten groups of IT officials were involved in “the search exercise taking place across Tamil Nadu, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi and other places”, an IT official told IANS preferring anonymity.
The raids began at 6 a.m. The tax officials also searched the residence of M. Natarajan, husband of Sasikala in Thanjavur, according to reports.
They also raided the Kodanad Tea Estate belonging to late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.
The official said the IT department will look at routing of funds within India and there are other agencies to look at routing of funds outside India.
The IT officials are also searching the AIADMK Tamil daily Namadhu MGR.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, Investing, Markets, News, Politics
New Delhi : Post-demonetisation and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the current economic slowdown has “bottomed out” and the recovery of the economy would “critically depend on the initiatives” the government takes from now onwards, according to a report released on Monday.
The report also said the quantum of impact of the structural reforms – demonetisation and GST – was expected but the quantum was not estimated and hence the current slowdown in the economy is painful.
“We believe that the slowdown has bottomed out, however, the stage and pace of recovery would critically depend on the initiatives that the government takes from now onwards to boost the growth momentum, especially the private sector investment, without which we will not be able to aim for an ambitious growth rate,” said Arun Singh, Lead Economist Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) India.
According to D&B Economy Observer, the rebound in industrial production, especially in capital goods is not just driven by festive-led demand and is on a sustainable basis.
“…as both the formal and informal segment of both the industrial and the services sector adjust themselves to the overall GST system and the frequent changes suggested under GST Councils, GVA (Gross value added) will grow only by 6.2 per cent in Q2 (second quarter) FY18, slightly higher than 5.6 per cent in Q1 (first quarter) FY18,” the report said.
It also said the recovery in exports, moderate interest rate, lower inflation rate, controlled trade deficit, sizable FDI inflows and the government’s commitment towards fiscal discipline are likely to pave the way for the economy to recover from the current scenario on a strong note.
“It is also expected that the continued reforms aimed at the formalisation and increase in accountability in the economy will help in preventing leakages and flow of resources in the desired direction and provide a strong foundation for a robust and sustainable growth process,” Singh said.
According to the report, Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is expected to grow by 4.-4.2 per cent during September 2017.
The CPI inflation would be in the range of 3.3-3.5 per cent and WPI inflation to be in the range of 2.7 – 2.9 per cent during October 2017, respectively.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Finance, News, Politics
New Delhi : Following the demonetisation of high-value Indian cuurency notes in November last year, Nepal on Tuesday sought a mechanism whereby such notes that were in circulation could be exchanged.
Delivering a talk on “Nepal Today” organised by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club here, Nepal’s Ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay said that Nepal’s central bank and the Reserve Bank of India have held several rounds of discussion have been held so that the old Indian Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 could be exchanged by Nepali citizens.
Expressing hope that the issue would be resolved soon, he said the mostly people in Nepal’s mountainous regions and pensioners have been mostly affected by the demonetisation move.
“I got many calls from the people in the mountains. I assured them that all your currency notes will be exchanged,” he said.
He said that with the festive season around the corner, and with almost every Nepali family having a member in India, “a window” for the exchange of such currency notes should be created for Nepal.
According to the Ambassador, while Nepal sought Rs 25,000 for each account Nepalis hold, India only offered Rs 4,500 in exchange.
—IANS
