Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the Centre is working on a method to ensure digital generation of income tax refund within 24 hours from the time of filing for returns.
Addressing a press conference post the presentation of the interim Budget in Parliament, Goyal said 99.54 per cent tax returns were processed without scrutiny, which, he said, was a historic feat in itself.
"Acceptance of more than 99 per cent tax returns without scrutiny is a historic development. The government is working towards the whole nation walking on the path of honesty. Under the new system being developed, income tax assessment will be done in 24 hours," he said.
Goyal continued: "This decision was announced now since we could not have afforded to wait for the main budget, as taxes would have otherwise been deducted at source."
With regard to the agriculture sector, the Finance Minister said the announcement of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi will benefit nearly 12 crore marginal farmers.
"Under the scheme, each marginal farmer will get Rs 6,000 annually, in three instalments with effect from December 1, 2018. The payment of Rs 6,000 will be paid directly in the bank accounts of the marginal farmers. Nothing has been done in this scale for farmers," he said.
Goyal took a jibe at the Congress saying they were only interested in "lip sympathy".
"Those sitting in air-conditioned rooms will not understand the plight of these farmers. Prime Minister Modi understands the ground reality," he added.
Goyal reiterated that the interim Budget was a "vehicle for development" as it focused on every sector of the society.
"We could not do much since it's the Interim Budget, but we want our measures to reach out to everyone," he noted.
With regard to the pension scheme announced for the unorganised sector, Goyal said the scheme is expected to benefit nearly 42 crore workers.
"It is difficult for workers to work at an old age. There are around 42 crore such workers in the unorganised sector. This is a big scheme. It will be implemented immediately. While devising this scheme, we have taken into account domestic help as well," he explained.
Goyal said it is for the first time that the defence budget has exceeded Rs 3 lakh crore.
"The One Rank One Pension scheme which was dangling for the last 40 years was taken up in true spirit by the Narendra Modi government. In the previous government's budget, only Rs 500 crore was disbursed to pensioners. However, Rs 35,000 crore was given out to retired officers by us," he added.
Concluding the presser, Goyal hailed the interim Budget as a historic one drafted with fiscal prudence in mind.
"We are confident that we will take these measures further in the next budget of our tenure," he stated.
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