Independence Day speech: PM Modi highlights progress on curbing black money, tax evasion, shell cos

GST has cut transporters travel time by 30 per cent.

Last month, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said that after the removal of inter-state check-posts, travel time of long-haul trucks, other cargo vehicles had reduced by at least one-fifth following the implementation of GST. However, All India Motor Transport Congress and Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT) claimed that much of the reduction in travel time is attributable to low traffic of goods vehicles on the highways due to fall in cargo movement. As per IFTRT, cargo movement during July 1-15, the first fortnight after GST roll-out, fell by 40-50 per cent, thereby resulting in only 70 per cent of the 13 lakh trucks with national permit operational on highways.

What Prime Minister said: More than Rs 1.75 lakh crore deposited in the banks during demonetisation is under the scanner.

Under the first phase of Operation Clean Money, launched on January 31 this year, about 18 lakh persons were identified whose cash transactions did not appear in line with their tax profile and these persons were approached through SMS/email, Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal had said on July 28 in Lok Sabha. “More than 9.27 lakh responses were received providing information on 13.33 lakh accounts involving cash deposits of around Rs 2.89 lakh crore. Appropriate action under direct tax law in the remaining cases has been taken. Subsequently, advance data analytics tools were deployed and 5.56 lakhs new cases were identified for online verification,” Meghwal had said.

What Prime Minister said: Number of new taxpayers filing income tax returns from April 1 to August 5 is 56 lakh and it has more than doubled.

Earlier this month, the tax department said that as on August 5, 2017, the income tax returns filed rose 24.7 per cent year-on-year to 2.83 crore returns against 2.27 crore during the year-ago period. While the number of I-T returns filed by individuals (98.7 per cent of total ITR) jumped 25.3 per cent to 2.79 crore, personal income tax under self assessment grew 34.25 per cent. During 2016-17, 1.26 crore new taxpayers were added against 1.0 crore new taxpayers being added in 2015-16, Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar had said in Lok Sabha on August 4. The Volume II of Economic Survey for FY17, released on Friday, noted that the government has added 5.4 lakh new taxpayers due to demonetisation during November 9-March 31, but the addition to the reported taxable income was muted at about Rs 10,600 crore.

What Prime Minister said:

The government has confiscated black money worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore over the last three years.

While announcing demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8, 2016, the PM said, “Through all these efforts, in the last two and a half years, we have brought into the open nearly 1 lakh 25 thousand crore rupees of black money belonging to the corrupt.”

What Prime Minister said: According to the research conducted by outside experts about Rs 3 lakh crore, that had never come into the banking system before, has been brought into the system after the demonetisation.

According to a RBI paper released last week, excess deposits that accrued to the banking system due to demonetisation are estimated in the range of Rs 2.8-4.3 lakh crore, while the unusual cash deposits in specific accounts, which are usually less active, are estimated to be in the range of Rs 1.6-1.7 lakh crore. Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian while delivering his lecture at IIT-Delhi in June had said that based on one of the assumptions, black money is estimated to be Rs 3 lakh crore.

What Prime Minister said:

In such a short time, the government has confiscated Benami properties worth over Rs 800 crore.

In the first eight months since the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amended Act, 2016 came into effect on November 1, 2016, the government has identified 413 benami transactions and has provisionally attached properties in 233 cases valued at Rs 813 crore, across 14 regions of the Director General of Income Tax (Investigation), as per data from the finance ministry. Details of such actions under the Act are available for the period between November 1, 2016 and June 20, 2017. The benami properties attached include deposits in bank accounts, jewellery, immovable properties among others.

What Prime Minister said: Post demonetisation, reports from data mining revealed that there are 3 lakh shell companies dealing in Hawala transactions. The govt has cancelled registration of 1.75 lakh companies.

Ministry of Corporate Affairs has removed 1,62,618 companies from the register of companies as of July 12, MoS for Corporate Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said on August 1. These companies were removed as they have not been carrying any business or operation for a period of two immediately preceding financial years. Section 248(1) of Companies Act, 2013 empowers the government to remove name
of company from register of companies.

What Prime Minister said: Over 14,000 villages, hitherto shrouded in darkness, have been electrified.

By the time NDA came back to power in May 2014, the UPA had already electrified approximately1.05 lakh villages out of 1.25 lakh villages that were unelectrified in 2005. In 2014-15, Rural Electrification Corporation electrified just 1,405 villages. In November 2015, the Union Cabinet approved Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana to electrify remaining 18, 452 unelectrified villages in the country. Out of those 18,452 villages, more than 14,000 villages have been electrified as yet.

What Prime Minister said:

In the labour sector alone, even a small businessman had to fill up to 50-60 forms, but we have now made it more convenient by reducing it to just 5-6 forms.

Ministry of Labour & Employment has notified “Ease of Compliance to maintain Registers under various Labour Laws Rules, 2017” on February 21, 2017, which has in effect replaced the 56 registers or forms prescribed under nine central laws and rules made thereunder, into 5 common registers/forms.

Under various central labour laws, there is a requirement of maintenance of registers depending upon the threshold of the number of employees by the establishments in agriculture and non-agriculture sectors.

What Prime Minister said: Digital transactions have risen by 34 per cent against last year and prepaid transactions rose by 44 per cent.

According to RBI data, the prepaid transactions in June this year were 59 per cent higher in value terms, over the same month last year. Among digital transactions, NEFT transactions has the largest chunk and these grew 44 per cent in June in value terms over the same month last year.