For the first time, the tax department has made public a solid amount of data on income tax for 16 years, including the earnings disclosed by different categories of people. "It's a big step for transparency," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A total of 84 page data has been released and put in the public domain for the first time, an official said.

Direct taxes (which include corporate tax and individual income tax) as a percentage of India's GDP has dropped to nearly a decade low of 5.47 per cent in the year 2015-16. A Parliamentary committee had earlier urged the government to take steps to broaden the tax base to increase tax collection.

The total number of individuals who paid taxes in 2011-12 was 4 crore; that number climbed only to nearly 5 crore for 2014-15.

Over the last six years, the growth in the total direct tax collected has slowed down considerably. The growth rate in collection of taxes was nearly 18 per cent in 2010-11, down last year to about 6.7 per cent.

The total direct tax collection in 2015-16 was at Rs 7.42 lakh crore compared to Rs 4.46 lakh crore in 2010-11.

There were only three individuals who reported an income of over Rs 500 crore in their tax return for the year 2011-12.Nearly 1 lakh individuals, who filed return for 2011-12, showed nil income.

There were only 4.28 lakh return filers whose income was more than Rs 20 lakh in the year 2011-12.

For the same year, highest number of income tax returns - 1.07 crore - were filed in the income range of Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.

For the year 2014-15, Maharashtra collected the maximum direct tax (which includes corporate tax and individual income tax) of Rs 2.77 lakh crore, followed by Delhi at Rs 91,274 crore , Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

The cost of collecting taxes as a percentage of total tax collected has been declining progressively. In financial year 2000-01, the cost of collection for taxes was at 1.36 per cent of total taxes. It fell to 0.62 per cent for 2015-16.