india

Updated: Mar 24, 2020 14:54 IST

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced a slew of measures, giving relief across sectors in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The date to file income tax return for financial year 2018-19 has been extended to June 30, 2020. For delayed payment, interest rates reduced to nine per cent from 12 per cent,” Sitharaman said at a press conference organised through video conferencing.

“The deadline to link Aadhaar to PAN card has also been extended to June 30, 2020,” she further said.

She started the press conference by saying the government is “very close to announcing economic package to deal with the coronavirus pandemic”.

The Covid-19 cases increased to 492 in the country on Tuesday. Much of the country is locked down to check the spread of the disease that has claimed more than 14,500 lives globally.

The government has already extended the deadlines for filing returns of goods and services tax (GST) in view of the coronavirus crisis. Sitharaman has also allowed companies to deploy their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to fight the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, tapping a potential Rs 30,000 crore in funding.

But there had been demands that the government relax deadlines for income tax payments and relax the mandatory filing norms that would coincide with the ending of the financial year next week.

The labour ministry on the other hand, has asked states and union territories to dip into the Rs 52,000 crore cess fund available with them to transfer money into bank accounts of 3.5 crore construction workers registered with the construction welfare boards.