133 companies owe over Rs 3,39,704 crore to exchequer: Arun Jaitley

NEW DELHI: A total of 133 companies with outstanding dues of Rs 500 crore or more under direct and indirect taxes owed over Rs 3,39,704 crore approximately to the exchequer as on March 31, 2017, the government said today.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, "The number of companies with outstanding corporate tax dues of Rs 500 crore or more is 132 as on March 31, 2017, involving total dues of Rs 3,38,098 crore."

Jaitley further said there is one case of service tax in which the amount due is Rs 1,606.26 crore (and an equal amount of penalty).

The minister, however, added that out of the outstanding corporate dues, Rs 2,45,480 crore were not realisable.

Elaborating, Jaitley said the outstanding corporate dues not realisable include demand covered by stay (Rs 1,20,604 crore), no asset or inadequate assets for recovery (Rs 84,469 crore) and company under liquidation (Rs 30,532 crore), among others.

The higher value cases are monitored regularly and all possible steps are being taken for speedy recovery, he added.