According to latest data with the revenue department, the overall direct tax collection for the April-September period of the current financial year was Rs 79,208 crore (Rs 792.08 billion), as against Rs 56,278 crore (Rs 562.78 billion) collected during the same period last year.

The increased tax mop-up in the current financial year, ministry officials said, is due to higher direct tax collections, and a similarly higher mop-up from customs and service tax.

Income tax collections in September stood at Rs 8,910 crore (Rs 89.10 billion), compared with Rs 7,154 crore (Rs 71.54 billion) during the same month last year, an increase of over 24 per cent.

Corporation tax collections stood at Rs 27,226 crore (Rs 272.26 billion) against Rs 20,427 crore (Rs 204. 27 billion) in September 2005, up by 33 per cent. The total direct tax collection stood at Rs 36,228 crore (Rs 362.28 billion), as against Rs 27,659 crore (Rs 276.59 billion) in September last year, an increase of 31 per cent.

For the first half of the current financial year, corporation tax collection stood at Rs 49,813 crore (Rs 498.13 billion), which was around 48 per cent more than the Rs 33,685 crore (Rs 336.85 billion) collected during April-September 2005-06.

Income tax collection, inclusive of fringe benefit tax, securities transaction tax and banking cash transaction tax, of Rs 29,310 crore (Rs 293.10 billion) for the period under review, were almost 31 per cent higher than the collection of Rs 22,450 crore (Rs 224.50 billion) in the corresponding period last year.

STT collections have gone up by over 100 per cent to Rs 2,099 crore (Rs 20.99 billion) till September as compared with Rs 1,029 crore (Rs 10.29 billion) for the same period last year.

FBT mop-up has increased by 37 per cent to Rs 1,089 crore (Rs 10.89 billion) against Rs 795 crore (Rs 7.95 billion) during April-September last year, while BCTT collection increased by around 150 per cent to Rs 232 crore (Rs 2.32 billion) compared with Rs 93 crore (Rs 930 million) in the first six months of the previous financial year.

Revenue department officials said customs collections for the first six months is estimated to be around Rs 41,000 crore (Rs 410 billion), which is around 32 per cent higher than the first half of the previous financial year.

The higher collection is on account of buoyancy in non-oil imports. Service tax collection is also estimated to be on course to maintaining around a 60 per cent growth over the previous year. Officials said indirect tax collections was still being collated from the field formations and would be known later this week.