Government indirect tax collection up by 27.5%, direct tax increases by 15.03%

Government's revenue collection in the first five months of current fiscal has shown impressive growth, with indirect taxes up 27.5% and direct taxes, 15.03%.

The total direct and indirect tax collections at the end of August stood at Rs 5.25 lakh crore, about a third of the Rs 16.26 lakh crore target for 2016-17. The government is eyeing 12.64% growth from direct tax to Rs 8.47 lakh crore in the current fiscal, and 10.8% growth to Rs 7.79 lakh crore from indirect tax.

Led by robust collections in personal income tax and excise duty, direct tax mop up touched Rs 1.89 lakh crore and indirect tax revenue stood at Rs 3.36 lakh crore during the April-August period. Direct tax revenue includes corporate and personal income tax. Indirect tax takes into account mop up from excise, service tax and customs duty.

The gross collection of Corporate Income Tax (CIT) grew at 11.55%, while that under personal income tax (PIT) it was 24.06% over the corresponding period last fiscal. After adjusting for refunds, however, the net growth in CIT collections is (-)1.89% while that in PIT collections is 31.76%.

Excise duty collections grew 48.8% in the April- August period to Rs 1.53 lakh crore, while Service Tax recorded an increase of 23.2% at Rs 92,696 crore. Customs mop-up during the five month period was at Rs 90,448 crore, registering a growth of 5.7%.