The Government of India on Monday rubbished viral claims on social media that financial year 2020 (FY20) would be extended till July 1.
These claims were made by misquoting an official government gazette, which notified about extending the implementation of certain amendments to the Indian Stamp Act, and not about an extension to the financial year.
The fiscal year in India runs from April 1 to March 31, and this claim would imply an extension of the ongoing financial year - which ends on Tuesday- by a period of 3 months.
BOOM received this message on its WhatsApp helpline (7700906111).
Also accompanying this message is a document, looking like a central government gazette issued on March 30, which can be seen here. The document comes with the lines, "In the said notification, for the words and figures "the 1st day of April 2020, the words, figures and letters "the1st day of July 2020" shall be substituted."
There are also users of Twitter who are asking, and even tweeting about this.
Govt changes financial year from April 1 to July 1 in view of the #Covid_19 pandemic: Official notification
— Mohd Lateef Babla (@lateefbabla) March 30, 2020
Govt changes financial year from April 1 to July 1 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic: Official notification
— SOPORE UPDATES ¹⏺️ (@SoporeNews1) March 30, 2020
Financial year extended to July 1, 2020, New directive from government...
— سنڌيRamesh Kateja (@RameshKateja) March 30, 2020
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Several arms of the government took to Twitter to clarify that the notification issued was being misinterpreted, and that the financial year is not being extended to July 1.
Press Note: No Extension of the Financial Year.@FinMinIndia pic.twitter.com/am51BEQUN4
— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) March 30, 2020
No extension of the Financial Year: There is a fake news circulating in some section of media that the financial year has been extended.@nsitharamanoffc @Anurag_Office @PIB_India @DDNewslive @airnewsalerts
— Ministry of Finance 🇮🇳 #StayHome #StaySafe (@FinMinIndia) March 30, 2020
The finance ministry clarified through a series of tweets clarified that the gazette pertained to postponing the implementations of certain amendments of the Indian Stamp Act is being misquoted as an extension of the financial year.
The amendments to the stamp act puts in place a mechanism to collect stamp duty on security market instruments through stock exchanges and clearing corporations. This amendment was initially supposed to come into effect on April 1 - the start of the fiscal year. But keeping the circumstances created by the lockdown in mind, these initiatives have been postponed to July 1.
The gazette can be found with the central government's gazette repository here.
Earlier, the finance ministry also gave respite to compliance ending on April 1, and announced ₹1,70,000 crore relief package, outlining food and monetary support for the stakeholders of the economy.
Also Read: Cash Transfer, Free LPG, Grains: ₹1.7 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Package