Direct tax mopup crosses Rs 2 lakh cr

NEW DELHI: It’s party time for the revenue department. Riding on the back of a booming economy, direct tax collections for the first time have crossed the magical Rs 2 lakh-crore mark.

The net direct tax collection grew by 36.5% to Rs 2,05,115 up to March 20, compared to Rs 1,50,269 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Advance tax collections also grew by 35.3% to Rs 1,17,114 crore up to March 20, indicating the robustness of the manufacturing sector. The advance tax figure will be substantially higher as the entry of the data had been delayed due to holiday in Maharashtra on March 19, said a CBDT official. Advance tax collection in the same period last fiscal stood at Rs 86,559 crore.

“We are sure to cross the revised target of Rs 2,29,272 crore by March 31 as bank unions have also called off their proposed three-day strike,” the official added.

The I-T department collected Rs 20,154 crore after raising additional demand for tax on the basis of scrutiny of previous year’s tax returns. Corporate tax collections surged 40.7 % to Rs 1,28,354 crore up to March 20 against Rs 91,236 crore during the corresponding period last year.

Personal income-tax, including fringe benefit tax (FBT), securities transaction tax (STT) and banking cash transaction tax (BCTT), grew 30.2% to Rs 76,472 crore compared to Rs 58,748 crore during the year-ago period.

FBT collections rose to Rs 4,984 crore from Rs 4,088 crore in the same period, while STT touched Rs 4,729 crore over Rs 2,559 crore as on March 20 last fiscal. BCTT increased to Rs 500 crore from Rs 306 crore during the corresponding period last year.