Demonetisation, a key step in formalising economy: Arun Jaitley

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, on the second anniversary of Demonetisation defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi's much touted demonetisation drive and said that the note ban had huge impact in formalising economy. The Finance Minister said, “Today 99.66 per cent of the personal tax returns this year will be assessed as filed. We started making tax evasions very difficult and brought in more people into the taxation system. Amongst these steps demonetisation was a key step. People were compelled to make deposits. Deposits in banks ended the anonymity of the money that was out in the forms of high value cash. Its owner got identified. People who were depositing several lakhs and crores were identified. They were sent online notices. Many responded, some had to face penal actions, their assessments have been done, or are being done. This helped the whole system in generating economic activity.”