Direct Tax collections soar 15.7% higher for FY 2018-19

The provisional figures of Direct Tax collections up to November, 2018 show that gross collections are at Rs. 6.75 lakh crore which is 15.7 percent higher than the gross collections for the corresponding period of last year.

Refunds amounting to Rs.1.23 lakh crore have been issued during April, 2018 to November, 2018, which is 20.8 percent higher than refunds issued during the same period in the preceding year.

Net collections (after adjusting for refunds) have increased by 14.7 percent to Rs. 5.51 lakh crore during April - November, 2018. The net Direct Tax collections represent 48 percent of the total budget estimates of Direct Taxes for F.Y. 2018-19 (Rs. 11.50 lakh crore).

So far as the growth rate for Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Personal Income Tax (PIT) is concerned, the growth rate of gross collections for CIT is 17.7 percent while that for PIT (including STT) is 18.3 percent.

After adjustment of refunds, the net growth in CIT collections is 18.4 percent and that in PIT collections is 16.0 percent.

It is pertinent to mention that collections of the corresponding period of F.Y. 2017-18 also included extraordinary collections under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS), 2016 amounting to Rs.10,833 crore (third and last installment of IDS), which do not form part of the current year's collections. 

Meanwhile, praising the fundamental economic reforms like the GST and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code carried out by the Modi government, IMF's Chief Economist Maurice Obstfeld said that India's growth has been "very solid" over the past four years. 

Obstfeld, 66, -- who is set to retire this month-end -- will be succeeded by Gita Gopinath, the second Indian to be appointed to the position. Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had served as Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund."India under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has carried out some really fundamental reforms. These include the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code...A lot of what they have done on financial inclusion has been really important," Obstfeld told a group of journalists.