The note ban exercise and implementation of GST helped the country in the long run and steps taken by the Centre had made India the fastest growing economy in the world, said Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday, as he accused Congress President Rahul Gandhi of misleading people on economic reforms implemented by the Central government.
"The Congress president has been raking up the issue of demonetisation and GST during the election campaign. He is misleading people. These steps have benefited the Indian economy in the long run," Prasad said while talking to reporters in Bhopal.
The Union minister further said 2.24 lakh fake companies were caught after demonetisation was announced, adding more than Rs 4,000 crore had been deposited in the accounts of these companies.
The tax base had also increased in the country with the number of people filing Income Tax Return (ITR) rising from 3.82 crore in 2013-14 to 6.86 crore in 2017-18, he said.
"India is the fastest growing economy in the world due to steps taken by the Centre. Now our economy is the sixth largest in the world," Prasad claimed, as he said income tax collection was Rs 6.38 lakh crore in the fiscal 2013-14, which had increased to over Rs 10 lakh crore.
He hit out at the Congress and said the party lacked internal democracy as it was "tough for the party to appoint a chief from outside the Gandhi family."
"Whenever someone from outside the Gandhi family was appointed, the loyalists of this family could not tolerate it," said the Union minister.
Citing former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, Prasad said when the latter died, his body was not kept in the Congress headquarters. Rao was the first PM who was cremated outside the national capital.
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