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<strong>The</strong> International News Weekly india<br />
November 09, 2018 | Toronto 08<br />
Demonetisation led to formalisation of<br />
economy, expanded tax base: Jaitley<br />
New Delhi: Finance<br />
Minister Arun Jaitley on<br />
Thursday said demonetisation<br />
resulted in formalisation<br />
of economy<br />
and increased tax base,<br />
prompting the government<br />
to earmark more<br />
resources for the poor<br />
and infrastructure development.<br />
In a Facebook post<br />
on the second anniversary<br />
of Demonetisation,<br />
Jaitley said in first four<br />
years of the National<br />
Democratic Alliance<br />
(NDA) government, the<br />
number of income tax<br />
returns filers has gone<br />
up to 6.86 crore from 3.8<br />
crore in May 2014.<br />
“By the time the first<br />
five years of this government<br />
are over, we will be<br />
close to doubling the assessee<br />
base,” he said in<br />
the post titled “Impact Of<br />
Demonetisation”.<br />
<strong>The</strong> demonetisation<br />
of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000<br />
currency notes in November<br />
2016, the minister<br />
said, had resulted<br />
in “more formalisation<br />
(of economy), more revenue,<br />
more resources<br />
for the poor, better infrastructure,<br />
and a better<br />
quality of life for our<br />
citizens.”<br />
He further said with<br />
the implementation of<br />
the goods and services<br />
tax (GST), it is now becoming<br />
increasingly difficult<br />
to evade the tax<br />
system and the indirect<br />
tax to gross domestic<br />
product (GDP) ratio has<br />
gone up to 5.4 per cent<br />
post GST, from 4.4 per<br />
cent in 2014-15.<br />
Terming the criticism,<br />
that almost the entire<br />
cash money got deposited<br />
in the banks post<br />
demonetisation, as “illinformed”,<br />
Jaitley said<br />
confiscation of currency<br />
was not an objective of<br />
demonetisation.<br />
“Getting it into the<br />
formal economy and<br />
making the holders pay<br />
tax was the broader objective.<br />
<strong>The</strong> system required<br />
to be shaken in order to<br />
make India move from<br />
cash to digital transactions.<br />
This would obviously<br />
have an impact on<br />
higher tax revenue and a<br />
higher tax base,” Jaitley<br />
said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> government had<br />
on November 8, 2016, announced<br />
ban on old 500<br />
and 1000 rupee notes, to<br />
curb black money in the<br />
system.<br />
Of the Rs 15.41 lakh<br />
crore worth Rs 500 and<br />
Rs 1,000 notes in circulation<br />
on November 8,<br />
2016, 99.3 per cent or<br />
notes worth Rs 15.31 lakh<br />
crore have returned to<br />
the banking system.<br />
This means, just Rs<br />
10,720 crore of the junked<br />
currency did not return<br />
to the banking system.<br />
After the note ban,<br />
old junked notes, called<br />
specified bank notes<br />
(SBNs), were allowed to<br />
be deposited in banks<br />
with unusual deposits<br />
coming under income<br />
tax scrutiny.<br />
Jaitley said demonetisation<br />
compelled holders<br />
of cash to deposit the<br />
same in the banks.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> enormity of<br />
cash deposited and identified<br />
with the owner resulted<br />
in suspected 17.42<br />
lakh account holders<br />
from whom the response<br />
has been received online<br />
through non-invasive<br />
method,” he said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> violators faced<br />
punitive actions. Larger<br />
deposits in banks improved<br />
lending capacity<br />
for the banks.<br />
A lot of this money<br />
was diverted to mutual<br />
funds for further investments.<br />
It became a part<br />
of the formal system,<br />
Jaitley added.<br />
He said the share of<br />
indigenously developed<br />
payment system of unified<br />
payments interface<br />
(UPI) and RuPay card<br />
have reached 65 per cent<br />
of the payments done<br />
through debit and credit<br />
cards.<br />
Jaitley said in 2017-<br />
18, the tax returns filed<br />
reached 6.86 crore, an increase<br />
of 25 per cent over<br />
the previous year.<br />
This year, as on October<br />
31, 2018, already<br />
5.99 crore returns have<br />
been filed — which is an<br />
increase of 54.33 per cent<br />
compared to the previous<br />
year till this date.<br />
As many as 86.35 lakh<br />
new filers were added<br />
this year.<br />
Economic Affairs<br />
Secretary Subhash<br />
Chandra Garg said demonetisation<br />
and GST<br />
reflect long-term vision<br />
of the government and<br />
its ability to undertake<br />
massive structural reforms.<br />
“Tax filers under<br />
both direct and indirect<br />
taxes are close to getting<br />
doubled. Digital payments<br />
have risen sharply<br />
and become common<br />
place. Fake notes are<br />
out,” Garg tweeted.<br />
PM offers prayers at Kedarnath shrine<br />
Kedarnath: Prime Minister Narendra<br />
Modi offered prayers at Kedarnath<br />
shrine on Wednesday and extended Diwali<br />
greetings to the soldiers posted on the<br />
India-China border.<br />
After offering prayers, the Prime Minister<br />
met the locals gathered at the temple<br />
of Lord Shiva near the Mandakini river.<br />
He later reviewed the ongoing development<br />
works in Kedarpuri.<br />
Before offering prayers, the PM celebrated<br />
the festival with jawans of the Indian<br />
Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police<br />
(ITBP) personnel at Harsil village near the<br />
India-China border.<br />
Greeting the soldiers on the festive occasion,<br />
he said that their devotion to duty<br />
in the remote icy heights is enabling the<br />
strength of the nation and securing the future<br />
and the dreams of 125 crore Indians.<br />
In 2016, PM Modi went to Himachal<br />
Pradesh to celebrate the festival with<br />
Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel at<br />
an outpost. Last year, he celebrated Diwali<br />
with jawans at Gurez in Jammu and<br />
Kashmir. AGENCIES