Imposed TDS levy after 448 entities withdrew Rs 100 cr each in a year: Govt

Just 448 entities withdrew over Rs 100 crore each taking the cumulative withdrawal to Rs 5.56 trillion in cash from bank accounts in one year, prompting the government to clamp down with a TDS on withdrawals of more than Rs 1 crore.

Almost 2 lakh individuals and business entities withdrew more than Rs 1 crore in cash from bank accounts in 2017-18, official data showed.

These entities had cumulatively withdrawn over Rs 11.31 trillion.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech said "To discourage the practice of making business payments in cash, I propose to levy TDS of 2 per cent on cash withdrawal exceeding Rs 1 crore in a year from a bank account.

Over 1.03 lakh entities made cash withdrawals in the range of Rs 1-2 crore in 2017-18, totalling more than Rs 1.43 lakh crore.

While 58,160 entities have cumulatively withdrawn cash over Rs 1.75 lakh crore in the range of Rs 2-5 crore, as many as 14,552 have withdrawn a total of Rs 98,900 crore in the range of Rs 5-10 crore.

Besides, over 7,300 people have withdrawn Rs 1.57 lakh crore and the withdrawal value range from Rs 10-100 crore.

As many as 448 firms have withdrawn more than Rs 100 crore in cash cumulatively withdrawing Rs 5.56 lakh crore during fiscal 2017-18."