Keeping up with its announcement of issuing pending income tax refunds to help taxpayers during the coronavirus crisis, the Central Board of Direct Taxes on Friday announced that the Income Tax (I-T) Department has issued refunds for over 20.44 lakh cases amounting to more than Rs 62,361 crore.

"The Income Tax department has issued tax refunds at a speed of 76 cases per minute from April 8 to June 30, 2020. During this period of just 56 weekdays, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued refunds in more than 20.44 lakh cases amounting to more than Rs 62,361 crore," an official statement from the Ministry of Finance said.

"Income tax refunds amounting to Rs 23,453.57 crore have been issued in 1,907,853 cases to taxpayers and corporate tax refunds amounting to Rs 38,908.37 crore have been issued in 136,744 cases to taxpayers during this period. Refunds of this magnitude and numbers have been issued completely electronically and have been directly deposited into the bank accounts of the taxpayers," the statement further added.

No taxpayer had to approach the Department to request for release of refund. They got refunds directly into their bank accounts, the ministry informed.

CBDT further urged taxpayers to provide an immediate response to emails from the I-T Department so that refunds in their cases too could be processed and issued right away.