Hit by a drop in corporate tax revenues, direct tax collections rose marginally to Rs 20,822 crore in October, compared with Rs 19,708 crore in the corresponding month last year.

Corporate tax collections during the month fell 4.72 per cent to Rs 9,424 crore from Rs 9,891 crore in the same period of 2008-09. In October, personal income tax receipts stood at Rs 11,398 crore, an increase of 16.1 per cent, against Rs 9,817 crore in the same month last year.

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Lower growth in net tax collections was mainly on account of higher tax refund outgo of 63.95 per cent at Rs 33,137 crore, against Rs 20,212 crore last financial year, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.

Corporate tax collections till October this financial year rose 4.59 per cent to Rs 1,09,996 crore, against Rs 1,05,174 crore in the first seven months of 2008-09. Personal income tax grew 2.87 per cent to Rs 63,195 crore, compared with Rs 61,433 crore in the April-October period last year.

Collection of the securities transaction tax increased 3.79 per cent to Rs 3,865 crore till October this financial year, against Rs 3,724 crore in the corresponding months of the previous year.

“Our estimate is that direct tax collections would cross the Rs 3.5-lakh-crore mark by the end of the year. Revival in the economy would improve the revenue mop-up from across the sectors (personal and corporate tax),” a CBDT official said.

For the current financial year, the government has fixed a direct tax collection target of Rs 3.7 lakh crore — an increase of 9.4 per cent over the actual collection last year. The direct tax collections for 2008-09 had fallen short of target due to the global financial meltdown. The government collected Rs 3.4 lakh crore through direct taxes, against a target of Rs 3.45 lakh crore.

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