The government has not changed the beginning of its financial year from April 1 to July 1 -- as is being claimed by some social media posts -- the Centre clarified today.

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The beginning of the fiscal year (2020-21) would begin normally on April 1.

The government's clarification after a Gazette notification, which pertained to a change in dates for collection of stamp duties, was doing the rounds in some circles.

"This notification pertains to some changes in Indian Stamp Act where stamp duty on security market instruments shall be collected through stock exchanges and depositories. This was to get implemented from 1.4.2020 but is now pushed to 1.7.2020 due to current situation," said a government official.

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The buzz around the extension of the current financial year also comes amid requests from certain quarters of the industry, which have requested the government to start FY2021 from July 1 instead of April 1.

The demand was in light of the shutdown that has been effect for the past week to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, as a 15-month year would look financials look better compared to the previous year.

Previously, the RBI too had become a victim of rumours after a recent report correctly pointed out that it was resetting its financial year.

However, the report was forwarded with a comment that the change had been undertaken because of the prevailing coronavirus outbreak, a claim that was incorrect.

The RBI had in fact announced the change much earlier, on February 15, to align its financial year with the government's.

First Published:Mar 30, 2020 9:33 PM IST