Gross direct tax collection grows 16.7% to Rs 5.47 lakh crore in April-September

New Delhi: The government’s gross direct tax collection rose 16.7% to Rs 5.47 lakh crore in the first six months of the financial year, the finance ministry said. The net collection, after adjusting for refunds, increased 14% to Rs 4.44 lakh crore during April-September. The government issued refunds of Rs 1.03 lakh crore in the first six months, which is 30.4% higher than the amount returned during the same period a year earlier.

“The provisional figures of direct tax collections up to September 2018 show that gross collections are at Rs 5.47 lakh crore, which is 16.7% higher than the gross collections for the corresponding period of last year,” the ministry said.

The government expects the buoyant direct tax collection to make up for some of the shortfall in indirect taxes.


The net direct tax collection represents 38.6% of the total budget estimate of Rs 11.50 lakh crore for the current financial year. Gross corporate income tax and personal income tax collection grew 19.5% and 19.1%, respectively. After refunds, the net growth in corporate tax collection is 18.7% and that for personal income tax collection is 14.9%, the ministry said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes collected Rs 2.10 lakh crore as advance tax, which is 18.7% higher than the figure a year earlier. The growth rate of corporate advance tax is 16.4% and that of personal advance tax is 30.3%, the ministry added.

“While the overall growth in direct tax collections for H1 FY19 is encouraging, what is particularly inspiring is the steep increase in the growth rate in corporate advance tax collections compared to last year,” said Pranav Sayta, partner &transaction tax leader, EY India.