As many as 6.86 crore I-T returns have been filed this year and the number is expected to go up to 7.6 crore before the present government completes its five year term, he said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the number of income taxpayers can double to almost 12 crore with increased formalisation of the economy.
As many as 6.86 crore I-T returns have been filed this year and the number is expected to go up to 7.6 crore before the present government completes its five year term, he said.
"3.8 crore people filed I-T returns in 2014 when the NDA government came to power. There are 25-26 crore families here. The country is capable of having a 10-11-12 crore taxpayer base," Jaitley said at the 'Jagran Conclave'.
India's normal rate of growth is 7.5-8 percent and the country will continue to grow at this rate, despite some deviation in one or two quarters, he said.
"Oil prices are a drag.... India can continue to grow at the same pace for two decades, but we need mature leadership for that," the minister said.
The Indian economy grew at 6.7 percent in 2017-18 fiscal. In the April-June and July-September quarters of the current financial year, the GDP expanded by 8.2 percent and 7.1 percent respectively.
Jaitley said India has the capacity to grow at least 5 percent more than the average growth rate of the rest of the world.
Fitch Ratings in its Global Economic Outlook on December 6 forecast global GDP growth at 3.3 percent for 2018. India, it said, will grow at 7.2 percent in the current fiscal ending March 2019.
