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Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Dated: 30 MAR 2022
Innovations In Startups
Startups and the entire innovation ecosystem are the engines of growth for any country. Recognizing this aspect, the Government launched Startup India initiative on 16th January 2016 with an aim to build a stronger ecosystem for nurturing India’s startup culture that would further drive our economic growth, support entrepreneurship, and enable large-scale employment opportunities.
Sustained Government efforts in this direction have resulted in increasing the number of recognized Startups from 726 in FY 2016-17 to 65,861 in FY 2021-22 (as on 14th March 2022). There is at least one recognized startup from every State and UT and nearly 50% of the recognized startups are from Tier-II and III cities. Recognized startups are spread across over 640 districts and have reported creation of more than 7 lakh jobs.
Assisted by the States’ Startup Rankings on Support to Startup Ecosystems, which is primarily an exercise to identify good practices, learn from each other and helping each other in formulation and implementation of policies in true spirit of cooperative federalism, a momentum has been built across states to build favourable policy landscape for startups. Mentorship has been a key pillar of evaluation under this ranking exercise which has played an important role in enabling mentorship to startups across the country.
To identify the depth, quality and spread of innovation and entrepreneurship in country, the Government instituted the National Startup Awards (‘NSA’). The winners of NSA have emerged from Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad Chennai, Mumbai Mysuru, Bhopal, Ernakulam, Gurugram, Kochi, Lucknow, Margao, Sonipat and Tiruvanantpuram etc. The winners and finalists of NSA are also provided handholding support across various pillars including mentorship. The Government under the Startup India initiative also helps Indian startups to connect with global startup ecosystems through various engagement models including enabling global mentorship.
Startups, have actively contributed in Government’s flagship programs such as Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Smart Cities Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission, National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY scheme) to improve urban infrastructure and service provision.
Furthermore, DPIIT has recognized startups which are spread across 56 diversified sectors. More than 20% of these startups are in sectors such as Automotive, Green Technology, Healthcare and Lifesciences, Renewable Energy, etc. Over 4,500 recognized startups are in Sectors like Construction, House-hold Services, Logistics, Real Estate and Transportation and Storage contributing towards urban concerns.
This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Shri Som Parkash, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
New Delhi, 30th March, 2022
PRESS RELEASE
Amendment to the provisions of Income-tax Rules, 1962 for prescribing fees under section 234H of the Income-tax Act, 1961
Under the provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (“the Act”), every person who has been allotted a PAN as on 1st July, 2017 and is eligible to obtain Aadhaar Number, is required to intimate his Aadhaar to the prescribed authority on or before 31st March, 2022. On failure to do so, his PAN shall become inoperative and all procedures in which PAN is required shall be halted. The PAN can be made operative again upon intimation of Aadhaar to the prescribed authority after payment of a prescribed fee.
In order to mitigate the inconvenience to the taxpayers, as per Notification No.17/2022 dated 29th March, 2022, a window of opportunity has been provided to the taxpayers upto 31st of March, 2023 to intimate their Aadhaar to the prescribed authority for Aadhaar-PAN linking without facing repercussions. As a result, taxpayers will be required to pay a fee of Rs. 500 up to three months from 1st April, 2022 and a fee of Rs.1000 after that, while intimating their Aadhaar.
However, till 31st March, 2023 the PAN of the assessees who have not intimated their Aadhaar, will continue to be functional for the procedures under the Act, like furnishing of return of income, processing of refunds etc. A detailed Circular No.7/2022 dated 30.03.2022 has also been issued in this regard.
After 31st March, 2023, the PAN of taxpayers who fail to intimate their Aadhaar, as required, shall become inoperative and all the consequences under the Act for not furnishing, intimating or quoting the PAN shall apply to such taxpayers.
(Surabhi Ahluwalia)
Commissioner of Income Tax
(Media & Technical Policy)
Official Spokesperson, CBDT
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
New Delhi, 20th March, 2022
PRESS RELEASE
Income Tax Department conducts searches on a Pune & Thane based unicorn start-up group
Income Tax Department conducted a Search & Seizure operation on a Pune & Thane based unicorn start-up group, primarily engaged in the business of wholesale and retail of construction material, on 09.03.2022. The group has Pan-India presence having annual turnover exceeding Rs. 6,000 crore. A total of 23 premises were covered in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, in the search operation.
A large number of incriminating evidences in the form of hard copy documents and digital data have been found & seized during the search operations. These evidences revealed that the group has booked bogus purchases, made huge unaccounted cash expenditure and obtained accommodation entries, aggregating to the tune of over Rs. 400 crore. These evidences were confronted to the Directors of the group, who admitted under oath this modus operandi, disclosed additional income of more than Rs. 224 crore in various assessment years, and consequently offered to pay their due tax liability.
The search action also revealed that the group had obtained huge foreign funding via the Mauritius route, by issuing shares at exorbitantly high premium.
During the search operation, a complex hawala network of some Mumbai and Thane based shell companies, was also unearthed. These shell companies exist on paper, and were created only for the purpose of providing accommodation entries. Preliminary analysis has revealed that the total quantum of accommodation entries provided by these shell entities exceeds Rs. 1,500 crore.
So far, unaccounted cash of Rs. 1 crore and jewellery of the value of Rs. 22 lakh have been seized.
Further investigations are under progress.
(Surabhi Ahluwalia)
Commissioner of Income Tax
(Media & Technical Policy)
Official Spokesperson, CBDT
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
New Delhi, 16th March, 2022
PRESS RELEASE
More than 6.63 crore Income Tax Returns (ITRs) and 99.27 lakh statutory forms
filed on the new e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department More than 6.63 crore Income Tax Returns (ITRs) were filed for AY 2021-22 on the new e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department as on 15th March, 2022, which was the due date for filing of ITRs by Companies and other taxpayers who were required to file Tax Audit Report. As on 15 th March, 2022 more than 5.43 lakh ITRs were filed (compared to 4.77 lakh last year on the due date) and over 13.84 lakh ITRs were filed in the last 5 days (compared to 11.87 lakh last year on the due date).
Out of the 6.63 crore ITRs filed for AY 2021-22, 46% are ITR-1 (3.03 crore), 9% are ITR-2 (57.6 lakh), 15% are ITR-3 (1.02 crore), 26% are ITR-4 (1.75 crore), 2% are ITR-5 (15.1 lakh), ITR-6 (9.3 lakh) and ITR-7 (2.18 lakh). This reflects an increase of over 16.7 lakh ITRs over total filing of ITRs for AY 2020-21 till 15.03.2021.
Over 43% of these ITRs have been filed using the online ITR form on the portal and the balance have been uploaded using the ITR created from the offline ITR preparation software utilities, including Departmental software.
Further, out of the 6.63 crore ITRs filed for AY 2021-22, more than 6.01 crore ITRs have been verified (75% using Aadhaar OTP). Out of the verified ITRs, more than 5.17 crore ITRs have been processed and 1.83 crore refunds for AY 2021-22
have been issued till 15.03.2022.
More than 99.27 lakh statutory forms were filed in FY 2021-22 till 15 th March, 2022 on the new portal including 26.19 lakh Form 3CB-CD, 2.76 lakh Form 3CA- 3CD, 20.9 lakh Form 15CA, 5.4 lakh Form 15CB, 2.27 lakh 10A, 5.86 lakh 10E, 77,634 Form 35 and 23.79 lakh TDS statements. The extended due date for filing of form 3CFA, 3CEAA, 3CLA, 9A, 10, 10IB/IC/ID, 10CCF, 56FF was 15th March, 2022 for which total filings till 15th March, 2022 is nearly 1.64 lakh.
To assist taxpayers with a smooth experience on the portal, over 8,500 taxpayer calls and 260 chats were responded to by the helpdesk only on 15th March, 2022 itself. Two email ids were created to resolve grievances of taxpayers in an expeditious manner related to uploading of ITRs (itr.helpdesk@incometax.gov.in) and Tax Audit Report (TAR) (tar.helpdesk@incometax.gov.in). In this regard, 16,252 emails were received, of which 16,233 were resolved by 15 th March, 2022. In addition to the above, the Department has been proactively engaging with and reaching out to taxpayers and professionals for assistance through its official Twitter handle on a continuous basis and through direct webex calls/webinars for better handholding.
The Department expresses gratitude to all tax professionals and taxpayers for the support in timely compliances. Taxpayers and tax professionals are also requested to note that the last date of filing belated return, revised return, linking of Aadhaar and PAN and compliance to the e-proceedings for assessment etc. is 31.03.2022.
(Surabhi Ahluwalia)
Commissioner of Income Tax
(Media & Technical Policy)
Official Spokesperson, CBDT
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
PRESS RELEASE
Income Tax Department conducts searches in a major Telecom Group
The Income Tax Department conducted search & seizure operations on a multinational group, engaged in distribution of telecom products and providing captive software development services, on 15.02.2022. The ultimate shareholding of the group lies with a foreign entity of a neighbouring country. The searches, which were spread across Delhi, Gurugram and Bengaluru covered the main business premises and also the residential premises of the key office bearers.
The search action has revealed that the group has made inflated payments against receipt of technical services from its related parties outside India. The assessee company could not justify the genuineness of obtaining of such alleged technical services in lieu of which payment has been made as also the basis of determination of consideration for the same. The expenses debited by the assessee company towards receipt of such services are to the tune of Rs. 129 crore over a period of five years.
During the search, it was found that, the assessee group has debited more than Rs.350 crore in its books of account in recent financial years towards royalty to its related party. Such expenses have been incurred for the use of brand and technical know-how related intangibles. During the search, the group has failed to substantiate receipt of any such services/technical know-how, or the basis of quantification of royalty rate for such claim. Consequently, the rendering of services and such royalty payments become highly questionable and prima facie, disallowable as business expenses as per extant Income Tax law.
Evidences gathered and statements recorded during the search also reveal that one of the group entities engaged in providing software development services, has been disclosing lower net margins from the related parties, by claiming its operation to be of low-end nature. However, the evidences collected during the investigation indicated that this entity has been rendering significant services/operations of high-end nature. On this aspect, suppression of income of Rs. 400 crore has been detected.
The search action has further revealed that the group has manipulated its books of account to reduce its taxable income in India through creation of various provisions for expenses, such as provisions for obsolescence, provisions for warranty, doubtful debts/ loans & advances etc., which have little or no scientific/financial rationale. During the investigation, the group has failed to provide any substantial and appropriate justification for such claims.
Further investigations are in progress.