Advance tax collections rise 10% in 1st quarter
Despite the overall gloom in the economy, advance tax collections of the top 100 companies are marginally higher at 10 per cent in the first quarter of the current financial year, said senior tax officials.
The country’s largest bank, State Bank of India, led the pack with an advance tax outgo of Rs 1,170 crore, compared to Rs 1,100 crore in the same period last year. Other banks like HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank also paid 25 per cent higher taxes at Rs 500 crore. In fact, according to income tax sources, most of the leading banks have paid higher taxes.
On the other hand, many leading companies showed a drop in their payments. These include Reliance Industries Limited, Larsen & Toubro and Hindalco. RIL paid lower advance tax of Rs 768 crore, compared to Rs 900 crore in the corresponding period last year. L&T saw its outgo falling to Rs 160 crore from Rs 180 crore. Hindalco’s outgo fell from Rs 70 crore to Rs 50 crore.
This year, Indian Oil Corporation, the largest fuel retailer, paid Rs 125 crore against zero payment in the previous year. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd has paid lower advance tax of Rs 70 crore compared to Rs 75 crore in the same quarter last year, while Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd has also paid lower advance tax of Rs 40 crore compared to Rs 60 crore last year.
LIC, the largest insurance player, has paid Rs 630 crore as advance tax payment this quarter, higher than the Rs 582 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
The National Stock Exchange paid higher advance tax at Rs 22 crore, compared to Rs 18 crore in the same period last year.
HDFC, a major housing finance company, has paid taxes worth Rs 300 crore compared to Rs 225 crore in the same period last year.
Lower order inflow for the capital goods markets has affected the profitability of these companies, which has also impacted the taxes these have paid this quarter. Siemens has paid Rs 50 crore compared to Rs 62 crore last year and Crompton Greaves has paid Rs 26 crore compared to Rs 30 crore last year. UltraTech, the cement major’s tax outflow went up dramatically to Rs 110 crore, compared to Rs 40 crore last year.
In the pharma space, Lupin's paid taxes worth Rs 38 crore compared to Rs 18 crore last year, while Pfizer saw a marginal rise of Rs 2 crore as it paid taxes worth Rs 15 crore.
Tata Motors’ taxes were lower at Rs 55 crore from Rs 60 crore. Godrej Consumer Products’ taxes fell to Rs 15 crore from Rs 17 crore in the same quarter of last financial year.
The overall direct tax target has been pegged at Rs 1,78,000 crore, which is 15 per cent higher than last year's, the tax official said.