Demonetisation and its impact on Tax collection and Formalisation of the Economy https://t.co/g9zVoha5Cs — Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) 1535629388000

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday rebutted critics of demonetisation saying that the objectives of the note ban have been fulfilled.The government and its November 2016 decision to ban Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes came for criticism for various quarters after the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI ) in its annual report for the year 2017-18 revealed that 99.3 per cent of the demonetised notes, worth Rs 15.3 lakh crore have been returned to the banks.Jaitley in a blog post noted that the criticism on these lines hold no water. "Was the invalidation of the Non-deposited currency the only object of demonetisation ? Certainly Not," he wrote.Jaitley went on to suggest that the 'larger objective' of demonetisation was to make India a tax-compliant society, an exercise which Jaitley wrote, " involved the formalisation of the economy and a blow to the black money".Jaitley further wrote that 1.8 million people whose post-demonetisation deposits were not in consonance with their incomes, have been identified for enquiry.The finance minister further noted that in the last two years, income tax returns have increased by 19 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively.Claiming that the tax collections have increased since demonetisation, Jaitley wrote, "Income tax collections have increased from the 2013-14 figure of Rs 6.38 lakh crores to the 2017-18 figure of Rs 10.02 lakh crores".Jaitley touched upon the government's flagship tax reform , Goods and Services Tax (GST) too, saying, "GST was implemented from 1st July, 2017 i.e. post demonetisation. In the very first year, the number of registered assesses has increased by 72.5%."