New Delhi, Aug. 10 -- The government has stepped up efforts to curb tax evasion and improve compliance through tighter reporting requirements, data-based monitoring and technology-driven checks, even as the number of people filing income-tax returns rose by nearly 24% over the past five years.

According to a written reply by Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in the Lok Sabha on Monday, the number of income-tax return filers increased from 6.96 crore in 2021-22 to 8.67 crore in 2025-26. In absolute terms the return filers increased by 17,046,901 in five years.

To prevent fraudulent GST claims, detecting under-reporting of income and make tax transactions more traceable, the government introduced a slew of measures.

On the d...