At a press conference called to disclose impact of steps taken to boost consumption in the economy so as to uplift growth from a six-year low, Pandey said tax refund cases have gone up by 17 per cent to 2.16 crore.

The Income Tax Department has issued as much as Rs 1.57 lakh crore of income tax refunds in the first eight-and-a-half-months of the current fiscal compared to Rs 1.23 lakh crore in full 2018-19 fiscal, Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said Friday. At a press conference called to disclose impact of steps taken to boost consumption in the economy so as to uplift growth from a six-year low, Pandey said tax refund cases have gone up by 17 per cent to 2.16 crore.

In money terms, the income tax refunds have gone up by 27.2 per cent. Also, Integrated-GST refund of Rs 38,988 crore has been released so far this fiscal as compared to Rs 56,057 crore in full 2018-19 financial year, he said.