Ravi Agrawal Reappointed As CBDT Chairman For One Year

Agrawal, an IRS officer of 1988 batch has been re-appointed for 12 months on contract basis.

“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the re-appointment of Ravi Agrawal IRS (IT 88028), as Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on contract basis, with effect from July 1, 2025 till June 30, 2026 or until further orders whichever is earlier,” the government notification said.

The extension of Agrawal’s term comes amid the board missing the direct tax collection target for 2024-25 by a small margin.

It is to be noted that the Centre's direct tax collections for FY25 touched Rs 22.26 lakh crore, a tad lower than the revised estimate of Rs 22.42 lakh crore-- by 0.7 per cent.

This shortfall was mainly attributed to a significant surge in refunds, which rose 26.04 per cent to Rs 4.76 lakh crore compared to Rs 3.78 lakh crore in FY24.

The gross direct tax collections (before refunds) during the financial year grew 15.59 per cent to Rs 27.03 lakh crore.

Agarwal was appointed as a member of CBDT in July 2023. He succeeded Nitin Gupta, in June 2024 as Chairman of CBDT, the apex policy-making body of the Income Tax Department.

The CBDT is headed by a chairman and can have six members who are in the rank of special secretary.

Recently, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the Conclave of Principal Chief Commissioners of Income-tax. While several reform measures particularly in faceless assessment, e-verification system, tax exemptions and digital service delivery have already been put in place, the minister called for further consolidation of these reforms which would deliver tangible benefits to taxpayers.

According to the government, of the total pending 5.77 lakh appeals, more than 2.25 lakh are targeted for completion in FY 2025-26, addressing over Rs 10 lakh crore of disputed demand.