How many people in India pay taxes?

“In the last five years, more than 1.5 crore cars have been sold in the country. Over three crore Indians went abroad for work or travel. But the situation is that only one-and-a-half crore people in our country of more than 130 crore pay income tax”, Modi said.

-Deccan Herald

That’s little over 1% of the population. I don’t want to believe this number.