Excise duty collections affected by duty cuts: CBEC

FARIDABAD: Duty cuts on petrol and diesel coupled with misuse of exclusive exemptions has led to a tardy growth of 3.7 per cent at 46,122 crore compared with Rs 44,469 crore a year ago in collections from excise duty this fiscal so far, a key revenue official said today.

"Growth in excise duty collections is sluggish because of duty cuts on petrol and diesel. Area exemptions have also been misused," Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC)Chairman P C Jha told reporters here after the passing out ceremony of IRS (customs and excise).

The government targets a growth of 9.3 per cent at Rs 1,36,610 crore through excise duty this fiscal.

He said exemptions have been tightened in Jammu and Kashmir, North East, Kutchh and Sikkim to check the manipulation from the beginning of this fiscal.

However, Jha exuded confidence of meeting the indirect tax collection targets of Rs 3.2 lakh crore during 2008-09 as per the present indications, which touched Rs 1,12,643 crore by August-end, achieving over 35 per cent of the budget estimates.

Revenue collections from customs and excise duty grew by 10.5 per cent to Rs 93,856 crore by August-end, while service tax collections rose by 24.9 per cent at Rs 18,787 crore till July-end, against Rs 15,043 crore collected during the same period last year. The government expects overall indirect tax collections to grow by 14.1 per cent this fiscal.

Further, to check excise duty evasion, a measure would be taken to assess duty payments through third party information next month in a phased manner, he said.

Third party information could be sought from electricity department and VAT department of states, Jha added.