Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved Rs 4,242 crore worth project for the e-filing process for Income Tax and Rs 6,000 crore worth recapitalisation of Exim Bank. The Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also approved Rs 22,594-cr expansion of Numaligarh refinery in Assam.
IT major Infosys has been selected to implement the next generation system for processing income tax return filings, with the Union Cabinet sanctioning an estimated Rs 4,241.97 crore for the project. The move will help in bringing down the income tax return (ITR), said Union Minister Piyush Goyal, briefing media.
Goyal said this approval is for creating a Integrated E-filing and Centralised Processing Centre 2.0 Project of the Income Tax Department. Minister said the processing time at present for ITR is 63 days and it will come down to one day after implementation of the project. The project is expected to be completed in 18 months and will be launched after three months of testing. Goyal also informed that tax refunds worth Rs 1.83 lakh crore have been issued so far in the current fiscal.
Cabinet approved an increase in the bank’s authorised capital from Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore.
Goyal said it has been decided to issue recapitalisation bonds by the Government of India to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore for capital infusion in Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank).
“The equity will be infused in two tranches of Rs 4,500 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 1,500 crore in 2019-20 respectively,” he said. Established by the Government of India in 1982, Exim Bank is the apex financial institution for financing, facilitating and promoting the country’s international trade.
The Cabinet also approved Rs 22,594-crore expansion of Numaligarh refinery in Assam for increasing the capacity by 6 million tonnes per annum to meet the fuel demand of north-eastern India. The central government will provide a Rs 1,020 crore viability gap funding for the project, said the Minister.
Numaligarh Refinery Ltd, in which 61.65 per cent is owned by Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), currently refines 3 million tonnes of crude oil a year. The refinery was set up in 1999 following the Assam Accord. Goyal said the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its approval to the expansion of the refinery to 9 million tonnes per annum.
“It (the project) involves setting up of a crude oil pipeline from Paradip (in Odisha) to Numaligarh and product pipeline from Numaligarh to Siliguri (in West Bengal) at a cost of Rs 22,594 crore. The project is to be completed within a period of 48 months, after approval and receipt of statutory clearances,” he said.
