INDIAN ECONOMY TO REVIVE SOON THAN WE EXPECT, SAYS FINANCE SECRECTARY

India's economy will spring back to normal sooner than expected and may even make a sharp V-shaped recovery in the next financial year, two top finance ministry officials said, dismissing forecasts of a sharp contraction in GDP in the current fiscal. Monetizing of the fiscal deficit by the RBI was not currently on the table, one of them said.

Direct and indirect tax collections in the June quarter were encouraging and daily e-way bill data was also showing a positive trend, finance secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said.

Direct and indirect tax collections in the June quarter were encouraging and daily e-way bill data was also showing a positive trend, finance secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said.

"All these things are actually giving an encouraging signal that the economy is coming back to the rate sooner than what was being anticipated," Pandey said at an event of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) on Thursday by video conference.

Tax collections

Income tax collections for the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal, which includes advance tax and tax deducted at source, were 80% of the year-ago level, Pandey said. These numbers should be seen in the context of corporate tax being cut to 22% from 30%, he said.

Goods and services tax (GST) collections of Rs 91,000 crore in May were at about 70% of the year earlier. This is expected to have improved in June, Pandey said, adding that the pace of transactions had risen compared to the previous months of lockdown. India's nationwide shutdown began on March 25 and was progressively eased in May.