Govt pulls off 50% of annual indirect tax target in Apr-Sep

Reflecting an increase in economic activity, indirect tax collection increased 35.8% in the first six months of the current fiscal to Rs 3.24 lakh crore, hitting more than 50% of the annual target.

The indirect tax -- central excise, Customs and service tax -- collection during April-September of the last financial year was Rs 2.38 lakh crore.

"This is an achievement of 50.6% of the target fixed for 2015-16 (Budget Estimate)," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The maximum jump was seen in the excise duty collection at 69.6%, or Rs 1,25,530 crore, during April-September of 2015-16 as against Rs 74,019 crore in the similar period last year.

Increase in excise duty reflect pick up in industrial activities.

Customs duty collection increased by 17.5% to Rs 1,03,450 crore while Service Tax mop up increased by 24.3% to Rs 95,493 crore during the April-September 2015-16 over the same period last year.

The government has budgeted to collect over Rs 6.47 lakh crore from indirect taxes in the current fiscal, a growth of 18.8% over last fiscal.

Giving further details, the Ministry said the indirect tax revenue collections rose to Rs 61,284 crore in September 2015 from Rs 46,224 crore a year ago, an increase of 32.6%.

In September 2015, central excise collections jumped 68.4% and service tax mop-up grew 35.1%.

Customs collections showed an increase of 3.4% in September over the same month last year.