Indirect tax collections touch Rs 2.07 lakh crore

Last years collections of Rs 1,45,958 crore during the same period constituted an achievement of 54.5 per cent of the overall target fixed for indirect tax collections for the year 2009-10, a finance ministry statement said on Wednesday.

In contrast,indirect tax receipts already amount to 66.3 per cent of the full fiscal target of Rs 3,13,471 crore and the government could overshoot the estimate buoyed by the recovery in economic activities.

The countrys economy is already on a recovery path,registering a GDP growth of 8.9 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal. Similarly,the index of industrial production IIP registered a growth of 10.8 per cent in October on back of healthy performance of sectors such as automobiles,electronic goods and power. The IIP growth rate on the average stood at 10.3 per cent during the April-October period.

The sharpest growth was registered in customs receipts which increased to Rs 86,844 crore during April-November 2010,which is 67 per cent higher than the previous years collections of Rs 52,011 crore in the same period.

This constitutes an achievement of 75.5 per cent of the target of Rs 1.15 lakh crore for the whole year 2010-11,the statement said.

Central excise duty collections that rose to Rs 81,984 crore during the period April-November 2010,an increase of 34.4 per cent over the previous years collection of Rs 61,020 crore during the same period.

However the mop up from service tax grew by a mere 18.2 per cent between April to November 2010 and totalled Rs 38,927 crore as against Rs 32,927 crore collected during the same period.

The service tax collections made in the first eight months of the current financial year constitute an achievement of 57.2 per cent of the overall target of Rs 68,000 crore fixed for the full financial year 2010-11,it added.