New Delhi: Retail inflation hit an 11-month low of 5.88 percent in November, as against 6.77 percent in October. The figures related to this were released by the government on Monday. Average inflation was above the upper tolerance level of the inflation target at 6 percent during January-September, 2022 for 3 consecutive quarters. Average inflation was 6.3 percent during the January-March quarter, 7.3 percent in the April-June period, and came down to 7 percent in the September quarter. According to the data released by the government, a decline of 4 percent in industrial production has been registered in October.
Earlier, the government refused to make an RBI report public explaining why the central bank could not keep inflation within the target upper limit of 6 percent for three consecutive quarters. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chowdhary said in a written reply to the House, “Yes, RBI has submitted a report to the Central Government, as per Section 45ZN of the RBI Act, 1934 and the RBI Monetary Policy Committee and Monetary Policy Procedure Regulations, Mandatory under Regulation 7 of 2016.” He said that the report cannot be made public under the provisions of the RBI Act, 1934.
Pankaj Chowdhary further said that between April 2019 and November 2022, officials were probing GST evasion of about Rs 23,000 crore by gaming companies. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, the minister said that the Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth over Rs 1,000 crore in several cases related to cyber and crypto asset frauds. Regarding Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion, Choudhary said the formation of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has led to investigations against certain gaming companies (including online gaming firms) based in India as well as abroad. has started. “The estimated GST evasion by these companies during the period April 2019 to November 2022 is Rs 22,936 crore,” he said.