Direct tax collections up 38.6% in April-June

Belying fears of economic slowdown impacting government revenue, direct tax collections have gone up by 38.6 per cent in the first quarter this fiscal at Rs 57,373 crore (Rs 573.73 billion) compared to Rs 41,391 crore (Rs 413.91 billion) in the year-ago period.

"The growth in direct taxes has been maintained despite much larger refund pay-outs at Rs 11,578 crore (Rs 115.78 billion) against Rs 7,302 crore (Rs 73.02 billion) during the corresponding period last fiscal," said a finance ministry statement.

Analysts said robust tax collections are expected to help the government maintain fiscal deficit at 2.5 per cent during 2008-09 despite increase in expenditure in the election year.

During the first three months, corporate taxes have grown by 32.65 per cent and stood at Rs 34,566 crore against Rs 26,058 crore (Rs 260.58 billion) in first quarter last fiscal.

Personal income tax, including fringe benefit tax (FBT), securities transaction tax (STT)and banking cash transaction tax (BCTT) grew by 48.84 per cent and touched Rs 22,782 crore (Rs 227.82 billion) as against Rs 15,306 crore (Rs 153.06 billion) a year ago.

FBT collections were up by 38.74 per cent, while STT and BCTT grew at 22.11 percent and 21.03 percent respectively, said the statement.

Upbeat over the robust tax collection, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had recently asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes to revise the Budget estimate of Rs 3,65,000 crore (Rs 3650 billion) upwards to Rs 4,00,000 crore (Rs 4000 billion).

In the last fiscal, the government had mopped up revenue of Rs 3,14,000 crore (Rs 3140 billion) on account of collections from direct taxes.