Indirect tax-mop up grows by 26 percent in April- Sept

Government’s revenue collection in April to September, the first half of the current fiscal saw indirect tax-mop up growing at an impressive 26 per cent while that of direct tax came in at a tepid 9 percent.

The total direct and indirect tax collections at the end of September stood at Rs 7.35 lakh crore, almost half the Rs 16.26 lakh crore target for 2016-17.

The government is eyeing 12.64 per cent growth in direct tax at Rs 8.47 lakh crore for the current fiscal and 10.8 per cent in indirect tax at Rs 7.79 lakh crore.

Direct tax mop-up touched the Rs 3.27 lakh crore mark and indirect tax revenue stood at Rs 4.08 lakh crore during April-September, led by robust collections in personal income tax and excise duty, respectively.

Direct tax revenue includes corporate and personal income tax. Indirect tax takes into account mobilisation from excise, service tax and Customs duty.

The gross collection of corporate income tax (CIT) grew at 9.54 per cent while under personal income tax (PIT), it was 16.85 per cent over the corresponding period last fiscal.

After adjusting for refunds, however, the net growth in CIT collections is 2.56 per cent while under PIT, it is 18.60 per cent. Refunds amounting to Rs 86,491 crore have been issued during April-September 2016, up 26.99 per cent from a year ago.

Till September 2016, advance tax collections have hit Rs 1.58 lakh crore, a growth rate of 12.12 per cent.

Excise duty collections clocked a growth of 46.3 per cent in April-September to Rs 1.83 lakh crore while service tax recorded an increase of 22.1 per cent at Rs 1.16 lakh crore.

Customs mop-up during the 6-month period was at Rs 1.08 lakh crore, registering a growth of 4.8 per cent.