india

Updated: Apr 12, 2020 13:54 IST

The Government of India has taken a slew of measures to aid the economy and benefit citizens in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. Last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a relief package worth Rs 1.70 lakh crore in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The government has also released around Rs 30,000 crore in assistance to various sections of the society.

Here’s taking a quick look at some other financial announcements by the government amid the Covid-19 crisis:

1. Earlier this week, the finance ministry announced that it will make an immediate release of ₹18,000 crore in tax refunds to individuals and businesses.

“In context of COVID-19 situation & to grant immediate relief to taxpayers, GOI has decided to issue all pending income-tax refunds upto Rs.5 lakh & GST/Custom refunds with immediate effect,” a tweet by Income Tax Department read.

2. Under a special provision, the government had announced that individuals could now withdraw three months salary from Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) account amid the coronavirus crisis. The EPF withdrawals have been exempt from service charge.

3. The last date for filing income tax returns for the financial year 2018-19 has been extended to June 30, 2020. The interest rate on delayed income tax payment has been decreased to 9% from 12%.

4. The deadline for filing GST returns for March, April, May has been extended to June 30, 2020. There will be no interest or penalty on late fee for delayed returns for companies with turnover up to Rs 5 crore.

5. Deadline for linking Aadhaar with PAN card has also been extended from March 31 to June 30, 2020.

The government has also introduced measures to provide financial assistance to various sections of the society under its schemes such as PM-KISAN, Jan Dhan, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana, Ujjawala scheme and National Social Assistance Programme.

Hundreds and thousands of beneficiaries including farmers, women, underprivileged, disabled, among others, would benefit amid the Covid-19 crisis by measures introduced in the above mention schemes.

The number of coronavirus cases in the country on Sunday crossed the 8,000-mark. As many as 8,356 total cases of coronavirus infection have been reported in the country. As per the data released by the Ministry of Health on Sunday morning, India now has 7,367 active cases, 715 people have been cured or discharged and 273 Covid-19 related fatalities.