Skip to main content

Direct tax mop-up at 13% till Dec 19: Arun Jaitley

By
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday that for the period between April 1 and December 19, direct tax collections grew at a net rate of 13.6% year-on-year (y-o-y). This is lower than the net y-o-y growth of 15.1% for April 1 to November 30, the data for which were released earlier this month.
There were fears with the announcement of demonetisation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 the move would lead to a substantial fall in direct tax collections. Jaitley said all the data available, including that of indirect taxes and rabi crop sowing, showed the situation was better than what the critics of demonetisation feared.
Jaitley was addressing journalists on the government’s demonetisation drive in New Delhi on Thursday, a day before the December 30 deadline for depositing old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in banks.
“Direct tax figures of income tax till December 19 are now available. If one factors in very large quantum of refunds — because these days refunds are also made immediately — the net increase is 13.6% till December 19,” Jaitley said.
Rubbishing critics, the finance minister said the effects of demonetisation were not as adverse as was predicted. He said the remonetisation process has substantially advanced, without a single incident of unrest anywhere in the country.
Jaitley said a large part of the Rs 15.4 lakh crore of old high-denomination notes in circulation on November 8 have already been replaced and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has a very large amount of currency available to support any liquidity need.
“Already, a large part of benefits of this historic move are visible. A lot more money has come into the banking system,” he said.
However, according to data released by RBI till December 19, only about Rs 5.9 lakh crore has been remonetised – 29% of the amount demonetised. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das had said earlier this month that the Centre expects 50% remonetisation by December-end.
Jaitley said that indirect tax collections soared 26.2% between April 1 and November 30, with revenue from excise jumping 43.5%, that from service tax by 25.7% and customs by 5.6%.
Replying to questions on when customers can see easing of curbs on cash withdrawals, Jaitley said: “That is a decision the central bank will take in consultation with everyone.”
Asked about fears expressed by critics that the note ban decision will hit the economy and the GDP growth, he said: “I think one is clear there could have been some adverse impact for a quarter or so. It doesn’t appear to be as adverse as it was being predicted... But, you have to plan the economy in the long term, the changes in the system which are coming about will certainly mean more money in the banks, more money with the revenue and probably a much larger and cleaner GDP.”
Business Standard New Delhi,30th December2016

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Household debt up, but India still lags emerging-market economies: RBI

By
  Although household debt in India is rising, driven by increased borrowing from the financial sector, it remains lower than in other emerging-market economies (EMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report. It added that non-housing retail loans, largely taken for consumption, accounted for 55 per cent of total household debt.As of December 2024, India’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at 41.9 per cent. “...Non-housing retail loans, which are mostly used for consumption purposes, formed 54.9 per cent of total household debt as of March 2025 and 25.7 per cent of disposable income as of March 2024. Moreover, the share of these loans has been growing consistently over the years, and their growth has outpaced that of both housing loans and agriculture and business loans,” the RBI said in its report.Housing loans, by contrast, made up 29 per cent of household debt, and their growth has remained steady. However, disaggregated data sho...
Post a Comment
Read more

External spillovers likely to hit India's financial system: RBI report

By
  While India’s growth remains insulated from global headwinds mainly due to buoyant domestic demand, the domestic financial system could, however, be impacted by external spillovers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly Financial Stability Report published on Monday.Furthermore, the rising global trade disputes and intensifying geopolitical hostilities could negatively impact the domestic growth outlook and reduce the demand for bank credit, which has decelerated sharply. “Moreover, it could also lead to increased risk aversion among investors and further corrections in domestic equity markets, which despite the recent correction, remain at the high end of their historical range,” the report said.It noted that there is some build-up of stress, primarily in financial markets, on account of global spillovers, which is reflected in the marginal rise in the financial system stress indicator, an indicator of the stress level in the financial system, compared to its p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Retail inflation cools to a six-year low of 2.82% in May on moderating food prices

By
  New Delhi: Retail inflation in India cooled to its lowest level in over six years in May, helped by a sharp moderation in food prices, according to provisional government data released Thursday.Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation eased to 2.82% year-on-year, down from 3.16% in April and 4.8% in May last year, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed. This marks the fourth consecutive month of sub-4% inflation, the longest such streak in at least five years.The data comes just days after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee cut the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%, its third straight cut and a cumulative reduction of 100 basis points since the easing cycle began in February. The move signals a possible pivot from inflation control to supporting growth.Food inflation came in at just 0.99% in May, down from 1.78% in April and a sharp decline from 8.69% a year ago.A Mint poll of 15 economists had projected CPI ...
Post a Comment
Read more