Number of crorepatis has risen by 60% in India: CBDT

[File] Income Tax office | PTI

The number of taxpayers earning above Rs 1 crore per annum has risen to over 1.40 lakh in the country in the last four years, depicting a growth of about 60 per cent, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Monday.

Releasing key statistics of income tax and direct taxes for a period of about four years, the policy-making body of the IT department said the number of individual taxpayers earning over Rs 1 crore annually had seen a growth of about 68 per cent. 

During the three-year period, the number of salaried taxpayers has increased from 1.70 crore in  2014-15 to 2.33 crore  in 2017-18, up by 37 per cent. The average income declared by the salaried taxpayers has gone up by 19 per cent from Rs.5.76 lakh to Rs.6.84 lakh. While it was Rs 26.92 lakh crore in 2013-14, it is now Rs 44.88 lakh crore. 

"The total number of taxpayers (corporates, firms, Hindu undivided families among others) showing income of above Rs 1 crore has registered a sharp increase.

"While 88,649 taxpayers had disclosed income above Rs 1 crore in assessment year 2014-15, the figure was 1,40,139 for AY 2017-18, which is a growth of about 60 per cent," the CBDT said.

Similarly, it said, the number of individual taxpayers disclosing income above Rs 1 crore had increased during the same period from 48,416 to 81,344, which translated into a growth of 68 per cent.

CBDT Chairman Sushil Chandra said these numbers were a result of putting in a number of legislative, informative and enforcement efforts by the tax department over the last four years.

The data also added that a growth of more than 80 per cent was registered in the number of returns filed in the last four financial years—from 3.79 crore in 2013-14 to 6.85 crore in 2017-18.

(With PTI inputs)