Finance ministry mulls raising indirect tax mop-up target

After increasing the direct tax collections target in 2010-11 by Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion), the finance ministry now plans to raise the indirect tax receipts by at least Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 3,25,000 crore (Rs 100 to Rs 3,250 billion) for the same period.

"Indirect tax collections have shown good growth. We are planning to increase the target by at least Rs 10,000 crore. This will be shortly communicated to the field officers," said a finance ministry official.

Indirect tax collections went up by 42.3 per cent to Rs 2,07,756 crore (Rs 2077.56 billion) in the April-November period, against Rs 1,45,958 crore (Rs 1,459.58 billion) in the corresponding months of 2009-10.

The collections in the first eight months were about 66 per cent of the Budget estimate of Rs 3,15,000 crore (Rs 3150 billion) for 2010-11. Last year's collections during the same period constituted 54.5 per cent of the overall target for 2009-10.

While the target will be revised upwards for all the three indirect taxes - customs, excise and service tax - the increase in collections will primarily be on the back of Customs and excise duty mop-up, which showed a rise of 67 per cent and 34.4 per cent, respectively, in the first eight months of 2010-11.

Service tax collections have grown 18.2 per cent in the same period.

The Budget Estimate (BE) for collections from Customs, excise duties and service tax is Rs 1,15,000 crore (Rs 1,150 billion), Rs 1,32,000 crore (Rs 1,320 billion)  and Rs 68,000 crore (Rs 680 billion), respectively, in the current financial year.

Till November, the revenue department had collected Rs 86,844 crore (Rs 868.44 billion) from Customs (75.5 per cent of BE), Rs 81,984 crore from excise duty (62 per cent of BE) and Rs 38,927 crore (57 per cent of BE) from service tax.

Last week, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had increased the Budget target for the Central Board of Direct Taxes to Rs 4,50,000 crore from Rs 4,30,000 crore (Rs 4,500 from Rs 4,300 billion).

This meant 19 per cent rise in direct tax collections over Rs 3,78,000 crore (Rs 3,780 billion) mopped up last year.

The target was revised by Mukherjee keeping in mind a 19 per cent increase in direct tax collections in the first eight months this financial year.

An indirect tax collection target of Rs 3,25,000 crore (Rs 3,250 billion) would mark a 32.5 per cent increase over last year's collections of Rs 2,46,000 crore (Rs 2,460 billion).

Going by the revised targets, the incremental increase in indirect tax collections in 2010-11 would be more than the increase in direct tax collections over 2009-10.