Economic slowdown has started hurting resource mobilisation for the government,as evident from only 6.77 per cent growth in gross direct tax collection in the April-June period against the 15 per cent target for the year. With India Inc facing difficult times,the growth in corporate tax was a meagre 3.48 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal,as per the official figures released today. The gross tax collections for the quarter were over Rs 1.11 lakh crore as against over Rs 1.04 lakh crore in the year-ago period. However,the collections on account of personal income tax during the three months grew by 13 per cent to Rs 40,520 crore. It was Rs 35,858 crore in April-June,2011. These figures indicate that the corporates would post subdued growth in profits. The companies will start posting their first quarter results later this week. Industrial production grew by a mere 0.1 per cent in April year-on-year,with 10 of the 22 segments posting negative growth. Corporate and personal income taxes are the two major components of direct tax. The gross mop-up of corporate taxes during the quarter stood at Rs 70,594 crore as against Rs 68,223 crore in the same period last fiscal. The net direct tax collection,which is the gross collections less refunds,was also up 47.16 per cent at Rs 84,273 crore in the June quarter of the current fiscal. It was Rs 57,267 crore in the year ago period. The impressive increase in the net tax collections was mainly on account of lesser refunds compared to last year. Wealth tax collection,which is also a part of direct tax,however,declined by 3.03 per cent during the June quarter to Rs 32 crore. The collection was Rs 33 crore in the same period last year. Realisation from Securities Transaction Tax fell by 0.52 per cent to Rs 952 crore from Rs 957 crore in the same period last fiscal. For the current fiscal,the government has set a direct tax collection target of Rs 5.7 lakh crore,which is about 15.2 per cent more than the actual collection of Rs 4.95 lakh crore in the previous fiscal.
