India had nearly 60,000 crorepatis by 2014-15, according to data with the Income-Tax Department. In the assessment year 2015-16, as many as 59,830 crore individuals reported gross total income of over Rs 1 crore, a 23.5 per cent increase from the previous assessment year when there were 48,417 crore such persons. However, their cumulative income of Rs 1.54 lakh crore in 2014-15 was lesser than Rs 2.05 lakh crore in the previous year.

Of these, 30,567 individuals reported earning salary income of over Rs 1 crore in 2014-15 as against 24,942 crore in the previous year. The figures, which are a part of the Income Tax Return Statistics for Assessment Year 2015-16 released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on Wednesday reveals that the number of super rich persons or those earning over Rs 1 crore are on the rise.

Apart from the highest income tax rate of 30 per cent, a 10 per cent surcharge is also levied on taxpayers with income between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore, while a 15 per cent surcharge is now levied on income of above Rs 1 crore. Significantly, five individuals also reported earning salary income between Rs 100 crore and Rs 500 crore in 2014-15, while 32 persons showed gross total income over Rs 100 crore. One individual in fact showed gross total income of over Rs 500 crore in the year.

In contrast, just two individuals in 2013-14 reported earning salary between Rs 100 crore and Rs 500 crore in 2014-15 and a total of 24 persons showed gross total income of over Rs 100 crore.

Meanwhile, the number of individuals reporting nil gross income dropped to 1,08,062 in 2014-15 from 1,98,216 in the previous year. In all, the total number of returns filed by all taxpayers jumped up by 11.4 per cent to 4,35,99,192 in the assessment year 2015-16 from 3,91,28,247 in a previous year.

“Apart from the number of taxpayers who filed return of income as above, approximately 1.64 crore taxpayers paid taxes but did not file valid or verified return for AY 2015-16,” said the CBDT. Of this, the number of firms filing tax returns rose to 9.8 lakh and companies rose to 7.19 lakh in 2014-15. In contrast, 9.18 lakh firms filed returns in the previous year apart from 7.01 lakh companies.