Expressing concern over sluggish excise duty collection, Finance Minister P Chidambaram admitted on Thursday that meeting the budgetary target of Rs 1,36,000 crore (Rs 1,360 billion) under this head in 2008-09 would be a formidable task.
The budgetary estimate for excise duty collection is Rs 1,36,610 crore (Rs 1,366.1 billion), which would translate into a growth of 8.8 per cent over last year.
"But at the moment, it seems little formidable," as April excise tax collections were not reassuring. "This might be an aberration," Chidambaram told reporters.
"We are concerned about the sluggish growth in central excise collections," he said.
Chidambaram said problems in excise duty collection related to clandestine movements of goods and misuse of CENVAT credit.
He asked the excise department to devise a mechanism of third party information on excise assessees on the lines of annual information returns in income tax.
The finance minister, however, exuded confidence that Budget target for customs and service tax collection for 2008-09 will be met.
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