Direct tax collections for Apr-July 2017 jump 19 per cent to Rs 1.90 lakh crore: Arun Jaitley

The Finance Ministry on Wednesday came out with the numbers for total direct tax collections in the first four months of 2017-18 fiscal year. Direct tax collections during April-July 2017 witnessed a healthy growth of 19.1 per cent, which is a substantial rise from the earlier numbers.

"Direct tax collections up to July, 2017 continue to register steady growth. Direct tax collections, net of refunds, stand at Rs 1.90 lakh crore," Finance Ministry said in a tweet. This direct tax collection is 19.5 per cent of the total budget estimates of direct taxes for the current financial year 2017-18, the Ministry further informed.

"Growth rate during this period for corporate income tax is 7.2 per cent while that for personal income tax including STT is 17.5 per cent," it said. However, after adjusting for refunds, the net growth in corporate income tax collections is 23.2 per cent while that in personal income tax collections is 15.7 per cent.

Refunds of Rs 61,920 crore have been issued during April, 2017 to July, 2017; 5.1 per cent lower than refunds issued in same period in FY 2016-17. Last week Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had appealed to traders to pass on the benefit of input tax credit and the consequently lowered rates to the consumers at large.