Govt to miss indirect tax collection targets: Com Secy

NEW DELHI: The Government today said it will not be able to achieve the indirect tax collection target of around Rs 3.20 lakh crore for the current fiscal on account of duty cuts and economic slow down. "We will not meet the indirect tax collection target due to sops given and the global slow down," Commerce Secretary G K Pillai said here.

The latest round of duty cuts announced by the Government includes four per cent across the board reduction in excise duty rates to spur economic growth.

In fact, the Government will lose around Rs 40,475 crore of indirect taxes during the year because of duty cuts announced after the budget for 2008-09, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman P C Jha had said yesterday.

As per the latest figures, excise duty collections fell by 8.7 per cent in the month of October, while customs duty collection fell by 0.9 per cent. However service taxes provided grace by rising to 18 per cent in the month of September.

"Excise collection in September-October this year has been less compared to last year. This is a very serious thing. If we are to meet the target, we have to maintain a growth rate of 9.3 per cent in excise... We are trying our best to step up collection and meet the target," Jha had said.

Pointing out that this is a difficult year, he said instructions have been given to field formations to have equal concern for revenue collection and taxpayers.