The tax department on Friday said it has issued I-T refunds of Rs 26,242 crore to 16.84 lakh taxpayers since April as part of efforts to hasten refund process for making liquidity available with people and firms to deal with COVID-19 crisis.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said 16,84,298 tax assesses have received refunds between April 1 and May 21.
Income-tax refund of Rs 14,632 crore to 15,81,906 assesses and corporate tax refund amounting to Rs 11,610 crore to 1,02,392 assesses have been processed during this period, the CBDT said in a statement.
The refund process has been further expedited at a greater pace since Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's announcement made in the 'Atamanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' last week.
"We are not delaying (refund). We are not sitting over it. I am giving it to you now because money is required now and it should reach now. I didn't mention even then...tax refund money has not gone into our calculation in claiming what we are giving as a stimulus," she had said.
The CBDT has released a sum of Rs 2,050.61 crore in the previous week ended on May 16 to 37,531 income tax assesses and a sum of Rs 867.62 crore to 2,878 corporate tax assesses, it said.
"While in this week ended on May 21, i.e., between May 17-21 another 1,22,764 income tax assesses were refunded Rs 2,672.97 crore and 33,774 corporate assesses including trusts, MSMEs, proprietorships, partnerships, etc. were issued refunds worth Rs 6714.34 crore, totalling the amount refunded as worth Rs 9387.31 crore to 1,56,538 tax assesses," it said.