Indirect tax collection swells 43 per cent

Reflecting a marked recovery in industrial activity,indirect tax collections zoomed by 43 per cent to Rs 56,930 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal. The revenue from customs,excise and service tax,which make up the indirect taxes,during the April-June quarter of 2010-11 fiscal stood at Rs 56,930.15 crore,up from Rs 39,693.78 crore in the year-ago period,a finance ministry official said.

Out of the total indirect tax collections,realisation from customs zoomed by 60 per cent to Rs 28,135 crore and excise by 55 per cent to Rs 19,536 crore. Service tax collection,however,declined by 3 per centto Rs 9,258 crore during the reporting quarter. The government has budgeted an overall tax mop-up of Rs 7.46 lakh crore during this fiscal. While Rs 3.16 lakh crore of this are expected to be realised from the indirect taxes front,Rs 4.3 lakh are expected to be collected from direct taxes,which mainly consist of corporate tax and personal income tax. Sources attributed the higher indirect tax collection to partial withdrawal of the stimulus measures in the budget,besides economic recovery witnessed in the current fiscal.

Rising prices of crude oil in the international market also contributed to higher realisation from customs. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in the budget raised excise duty from 8 to 10 per centand also increased duties on crude oil and petroleum products. The minister,however,did not raise the service tax rate retaining it at 10. The overall economic growth in the current fiscal is estimated at 8.5 per cent,up from 7.4 per cent in the previous fiscal. As per the latest figures,industrial production in April,the first month of the fiscal,jumped to 17.6 per cent.