The direct tax collections rose by 14.1% in the April-December period to Rs 8.74 lakh crore, in what could provide relief to the economy from a budget deficit. During the 9-month period, the refunds amounting to Rs 1.30 lakh crore have also been issued, an increase of 17% from the year-ago period, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

After Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's scathing remarks on the Reserve Bank of India's "lending spree", Governor Urjit Patel may consider stepping down from the role, a CNBC-TV18 report said. "RBI governor may even consider resigning. All options on the table," the report mentioned. Quoting a source, the report said that there has been an "irreversible breakdown between the RBI governor and the government".

Attacking Congress President Rahul Gandhi in a post titled 'Is the 'Clown Prince' out-clowning himself?', Union Minister Arun Jaitley said Rahul is living in a state of "self-delusion". Stating that Rahul concocts an alternative if facts don't suit him, Jaitley said he repeats a false narrative a dozen times to convince himself that "falsehood is in fact the truth".