Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the corporate tax rate for companies with over Rs 400-crore turnover will be gradually cut to 25 per cent and the government will support wealth creators.

In her maiden budget last month, Sitharaman had cut the corporate tax for companies with an annual turnover of up to Rs 400 crore to 25 per cent from 30 per cent.

Her predecessor Arun Jaitley had last year cut the corporate income tax rate to 25 per cent for companies with a turnover of up to Rs 250 crore.

Speaking at an industry event here, Sitharaman said the tax cuts for other companies would be gradual but did not give a timeframe.

Echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech, she said Indian wealth-creator entrepreneurs would be given all kinds of support.

Modi in his annual address to the nation from the Red Fort on August 15 had extolled the role of wealth creators and said they must not be viewed with suspicion.

“Let us never see wealth creators with suspicion. Only when wealth is created, wealth will be distributed,” he had said.

On tax collection, Sitharaman said tax administrators become facilitators and people who pay tax are treated with a lot of understanding.

Redemption reserves off

The government has removed the redemption reserve requirement for the issue of debentures by non-banking financial companies, housing finance companies and listed firms, a move aimed at reducing the cost of raising capital.

Under the companies law, these entities raising money had to create a debenture redemption reserve (DRR) of 25 per cent of the value of outstanding debentures.

For unlisted companies, the DRR requirement has been reduced to 10 per cent from 25 per cent of the outstanding debentures.

“The measure has been taken to reduce the cost of capital raised by companies through the issue of debentures and is expected to deepen the bond market,” the corporate affairs ministry said.