Economy got a boost with GST, ban: Nitin Gadkari

Mumbai: Nitin Gadkari, the Union minister of road transport and highways and shipping, asserted that demonetisation and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) have given a new boost for the economy. Contending that there is no substance in the allegations of the opposition and that only those who are affected by the measures are opposing them, Mr Gadkari said the common man supported it.

Mr Gadkari said after demonetisation, 1.5 lakh people deposited Rs 5 lakh crore in bank accounts in the country which was one-third of the currency that had been in circulation. He said Rs 3.68 lakh crore of this was deposited in 23.22 lakh accounts.

Mr Gadkari countered all allegations of opposition about demonetisation and GST. He said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is frustrated because his party is not tasting success in elections. Mr Gadkari said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had assured people before the elections that it would fight corruption and black money. "Demonetisation was a very important step to achieve that target and 99 per cent of the currency had now been deposited in the bank," he said. Now Income Tax and other central agencies are scrutinising all details and taking steps to dig out black money. Mr Gadkari said that now hawala and many channels of black money are not functional and terrorist and Naxalite movements have reduced drastically.

Digital transitions had increased by 58 per cent since demonetisations and now the Reserve Bank of India will cut down on printing currency notes in the next two to three years, the minister added.

Something fishy

• Inquiry into 17.73 lakh accounts is currently going on.
• Transactions worth Rs 10,200 crore took place in 49,910 bank accounts of 28,088 companies, which are closed. One company has 2,134 bank accounts and many have more than 100 accounts.
• Income Tax Department has taken action against 1,150 shell companies who transacted Rs 13,300 crore black money
• Increase of 58 per cent in digital tractions since demonetisation, 110 crore transactions worth Rs 3.3 lakh crore.