Excise tax collection is likely to touch Rs 1,15,000 crore (Rs 1150 billion), while customs duty collections is expected to be Rs 64,000 crore (Rs 640 billion) and services tax will hopefully touch Rs 23,000 crore (Rs 230 billion) this fiscal, Central Board of Excise and Customs chairman M Jayaraman said.

According to official sources, indirect taxes were up by 16.2 per cent at Rs 1,53,988 crore (Rs 1539.88 billion) during April-January, 2005-06.

Excise duty collections stood at Rs 85,030 crore (Rs 850.30 billion) during the first 10 months of this fiscal, while customs duty fetched Rs 52,754 crore (Rs 527.54 billion) to the government kitty and services tax collections were Rs 16,205 crore (Rs 162.05 billion).

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said he sincerely hoped target for indirect tax collections would be achieved this fiscal.

"I don't have doubts in my mind that you (officials of customs and excise department) will exceed the target in customs duty, the question is by how much. And you will surpass the targets in services tax, the question again is by how much," he said.

The Finance Minister said he would personally be very happy and satisfied if the excise duty target is achieved.

Excise, which was witnessing single digit growth till December, surged after a robust show in January when it grew by 20.6 per cent at Rs 10,010 crore (Rs 100.10 billion), official sources said.