India’s income taxpayer base has touched 7.4 crore, CBDT Chairperson Rani Singh Nair said here on Tuesday. This is a significant increase from the 5 crore number bandied about in official circles in the recent past.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in June this year urged the income tax department to aspire for a taxpayer base of 10 crore.

Nair counted both income-tax return filers and those covered under tax deduction at source (TDS) to put the figure at 7.4 crore.

Replying to a question at the 13th International Tax Conference organised by industry body Assocham, the CBDT chief said there was a need to both widen and deepen the taxpayer base.

She noted that at 17 per cent, India’s tax-to-GDP ratio figured much lower than the 23-24 per cent seen in many countries, including among its neighbours.

Nair, however, parried a question on whether the Centre was contemplating taxing the agricultural rich to bolster its tax revenues. “As you are aware, agricultural income is a Constitutional issue. It requires a Constitutional amendment,” she said.

Cash transactions Nair also said the Centre was considering the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) recommendation to ban all cash transactions in excess of ₹3 lakh.

“As far as the Income Tax Department is concerned, we have put a 1 per cent TCS (Tax Collected at Source) on cash transactions; we have made PAN quoting mandatory. All these aspects are also part of the SIT recommendation to stop the use of cash in the economy. The recommendation on ₹3 lakh and above is under consideration,” she said.

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