Income from capital gains zoomed 89% in pandemic year

INCOME FROM CAPITAL gains reported by taxpayers surged in the financial year 2020-21 (assessment year 2021-22), the year ravaged by the pandemic, while "salary income" of individuals grew at a much lower pace, as per the statistics released by the tax department recently.

- PRIYANSH VERMA

In the year which saw the gross domestic product (GDP) shrink by 5.8%, the income reported as longterm capital gains stood at 3.52 trillion, up 66.7% on year, while income from short-term capital gains skyrocketed 166.7% to 1.56 trillion, the data showed. The year-on-year rise in aggregate income from capital gains was a whopping 89% in FY21.

While the income from salaries rose 5.6% on year to ₹24.6 trillion in FY21, "business income", the largest segment which represents the profits made by companies, LLPs and other establishments, too, showed a healthy growth of 15.8% to 33.8 trillion.