The variety of billionaires in India got here right down to 136 in 2020-21 from 141 in 2019-20, primarily based on the gross whole earnings declared within the earnings tax return, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman knowledgeable Parliament on Tuesday.
The variety of people disclosing a gross whole earnings of greater than Rs 100 crore (one billion rupees) in a yr in his/her return of earnings filed with the Income Tax Department throughout 2018-19 stood at 77, she stated in a reply to the Rajya Sabha.
“As per the information available with Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), there is no legislative or administrative definition of the term billionaire under direct taxes. Wealth tax has been abolished with effect from 01.04.2016 and, therefore, CBDT does not any more capture information about complete wealth of an individual taxpayer,” she stated.
Sharing official poverty numbers, the finance minister stated that as per the poverty estimates following the extant Tendulkar Committee methodology, the variety of individuals residing under the poverty line in India was estimated as 27 crore (21.9 per cent) in 2011-12.
Replying to a different query, the finance minister stated the value state of affairs is continually monitored by the federal government and acceptable measures are taken to keep up worth stability.
The authorities has taken a number of steps to regulate inflation, together with provide augmentation measures to handle the demand-supply mismatches of meals commodities, reminiscent of decreasing of import duties on edible oils, amongst others, she stated.
