New Delhi, On the very first day of New Year 2022 on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi came up with data which reflect the growth of the Indian economy in 2021.

Speaking about the economy, the Prime Minister said that on many parameters, the Indian economy is looking better than pre-Covid days. He pointed out: "today the growth rate of our economy is more than 8 per cent. Record foreign investment has come to India. Our forex reserves have reached record levels. Old records have also been surpassed in GST collections. We have also set new records in the matter of exports, especially in agriculture."

He said that in 2021 transaction of more than Rs 70 lakh crore was done through UPI. More than 50,000 startups are working in India out of these 10,000 came up during the last six months.

To corroborate PM's claims about the growth on the economic front in year 2021, on the indirect tax front, the gross GST revenue collected in the month of December 2021 is Rs 1,29,780 crore, 13 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year and 26 per cent higher than the GST revenues in December 2019. During the month of December, revenues from import of goods were 36 per cent higher and the revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) are 5 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.

The average monthly gross GST collection for the third quarter of the current year has been Rs 1.30 lakh crore against the average monthly collection of Rs 1.10 lakh crore and Rs 1.15 lakh crore in the first and second quarters respectively. Whereas on the direct tax side, 46.11 ITRs filed on December 31, 2021 only, making an overall total of 5.89 crore ITRs for AY 2021-22. In the year 2020-21, the total number of ITRs filed was 5.95 crore, a bit higher than this year, which is 5.89 crores, as informed by the Ministry of Finance.

On the occasion of releasing the 10th instalment of financial benefit under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme on Saturday via video conferencing, the Prime Minister talked about the milestones that were achieved in the agriculture sector in recent years. Food grain production touched 300 million tonnes, similarly Horticulture and floriculture production reached 330 million tonnes. Milk production also increased almost 45 per cent in the last 6-7 years. About 60 lakh hectare of land was brought under micro irrigation; more than Rs 1 lakh crore was given in compensation under Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojna, whereas the premium received was just Rs 21,000 crore. Ethanol production increased from 40 crore litres to 340 crore litres in just seven years.