April indirect tax collection up 10.4% to Rs 33,045 crore

NEW DELHI: Collection of indirect taxes jumped by 10.4 per cent to Rs 33,045 crore in the first month of the current fiscal on the back of increase in excise duty and service tax rates.

The indirect tax - excise duty, customs and service tax - collection had totalled Rs 29,936 crore in April 2011.

"At this pace of growth, we will be able to achieve the Budget target of Rs 5.05 lakh crore for the current fiscal," Central Board of Excise and Customs ( CBEC) Chairman S K Goel said.

He added that the April tax collection would have been about 22 per cent had the government not slashed excise duty and customs on petroleum products in June 2011 to cushion impact of the hike in prices of diesel, kerosene and LPG.

The government has increased both the excise duty and service tax by two per cent each to 12 per cent in the Budget.

Giving break up of tax collection, Goel said the excise duty mop in April was Rs 12,605 crore against Rs 10,698 crore in the same month last year.

Similarly, service tax collection was up at Rs 8,846 crore against Rs 6,524 crore in April 2011.

However, the customs duty collection in April 2012 was less at Rs 11,594 crore from Rs 12,714 crore in the same month last year. Goel attributed the slump in customs duty collection to higher duty drawback, increase in Countervailing Duty (CVD) and the tax rate cut of June 2011.

The indirect tax mop in 2011-12 at Rs 3,92,781 crore was 99.6 per cent of the Budget Estimate, Goel said.