Access to more than 6.5 billion domestic digital transactions and exchange information with overseas institutions has made the Income Tax Bureau more effective in detecting evasions, Agrawal said.
He eased concerns about the authority that tax authorities must access digital records. This is strictly restricted to search and seizure operations that do not aim to allow taxpayers to share information and snatch them up, he said.
“The next phase of AI use is more intense and reporting agencies will conduct detailed analysis to identify Evaders and provide more mature data to achieve appropriate goals,” he said.
The Income Tax Agency has actively provided taxpayers with information about financial transactions and promoted voluntary compliance. Up to 11 million people have filed updated returns, and since April 1, 2022, the facility's deployment has brought additional taxes to over $11,000 trillion.
A recent nudge campaign has withdrawn tax credit claims worth 963 crores, with additional tax payments of 409.50 crores between April 1, 2023 and June 18, 2025.
Information quality
“This was the result of the analysis,” Agrawal said. “We were able to carry out the Indian and Indian operations,” the clear message from the tax authorities is that the department is a facilitator who has not invaded, but still maintains the clock, the CBDT chairman said. A similar campaign will be rolled out this year using fresh datasets, he said.
Agrawal noted that the data received under various information exchange agreements has improved over the past two years. “The quality of the information has improved because they understand our requirements and will help identify taxpayers who hold foreign assets,” he said. The focus is on regular updates as technology evolves to tackle areas such as Dark Web, Crypto and other new forms of transactions.
Agrawal said India is “actively taking part in and contributing” in discussions at the Global Forum on the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework. “We hear India's voices on all these platforms. We are deliberating on how information can actually be exchanged,” he said, adding that the country has already made this possible through regulations.
Improved efficiency
The CBDT chair said digitalization will help expand taxpayer bases from 30 million in fiscal 2014 to 90 million.
Data showed a 474% increase in total refunds issued. This will be from 83,008 crore in FY2014 to 4.76 crore in FY2025, with average refund processing times dropping from before 93 days to 17 days.
Approximately 22% of income tax returns were processed within one day, with 26% being processed within 2-7 days.
The department collates annual data on roughly 6.5 billion transactions to prepare pre-filled forms for around 4.5 million taxpayers, 99% of which agrees to the information provided. “As a country, we need to thank the background efforts in the ITR pre-population that are urging taxpayers towards compliance,” he said.
New legislation
Once the Congressional Select Committee submits a report on the new income tax bill, the department's actual work begins now. “The bill is the first step, and what's related to this is building rules, forms and capabilities,” Agrawal said. “This is a transition between the IT department and taxpayers.”
The immediate focus is to prepare the sector for the expected massive transformation with a new law that will take effect on April 1, 2026.
