'Direct tax collection might miss revised target'

The government’s direct tax mop-up is set to miss the revised target for 2014-15, as the collection so far has been only Rs 6,30,000 crore, an income tax (I-T) department official said.

Keeping in view the sluggish rise in collection, the government had revised its target downwards to Rs 7,05,000 crore for the current financial year, after initially having budgeted Rs 7,36,000 crore in the direct tax mop-up.

The department may not be able to achieve even the revised target, the official said, adding, as on March 24, the department had collected only Rs 6,30,000 crore from across the country, up from Rs 5,83,000 crore during the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Mumbai continued to be the largest centre for income tax collection and mopped up Rs 1,99,426 crore so far, which is higher by 10.9 per cent when compared to the mark of Rs 1,79,763 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal.

The I-T Department has a target to mop up Rs 2.30 trillion from Mumbai this fiscal out of the direct tax collection target of Rs 7.04 trillion for FY15.

The Delhi circle collected Rs 96,722 crore as against Rs 86,619 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal, registering a growth of 11.7 per cent, the official said.

The official blamed the likelihood of lower than projected target of direct tax collection to certain sectors like manufacturing which have not been able to do well in the sluggish country's economic growth.

The sluggish collections come even as many large corporate paid higher advance tax this fiscal, and especially in the fourth quarter.

While the nation's largest lender State Bank of India has reportedly paid 23 percent more in advance tax at about Rs 1,794 crore for the March quarter compared to around Rs 1,456 crore a year-ago, LIC has paid Rs 1,470 crore, an increase of 15 percent over Rs 1,280 in the same period last year.

For the full fiscal, the insurance behemoth has paid Rs 5,880 crore as against Rs 5,100 crore in the last financial year, while mortgage lender HDFC paid 12.8 per cent more at Rs 2,435 crore, this fiscal. Its Q4 payout was about Rs 550 crore, up from Rs 500 crore a year ago.

Rural development lender Nabard has paid about Rs 1,560 crore, up from Rs 1,490 crore.