Direct tax collections rise 19% to Rs 6.95 trillion in April-January

The direct tax collection swelled by 19.3 per cent to Rs 6.95 trillion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year.

The government had estimated the collections to grow by 18.3 per cent for 2017-18 in the Budget. 

If the Budget Estimates are taken into account, growth was projected at 15.3 per cent for the current financial year. 

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Parliament that the figures were attributable to the government's measures against black money. Jaitley said he expected growth rate would be 14-15 per cent.

The collections, net of refunds, represented 69.2 per cent of the Revised Estimates of Rs 10.05 trillion for direct taxes in 2017-18. Much of the tax collections comes in the last month of a financial year. 

The collections for corporate income tax showed 19.2 per cent growth and for personal income tax it was 18.6 per cent. Refunds amounting to Rs 1.26 trillion have been issued during the 10-month period of the current fiscal year. 

GST compensation

The government is likely to give monthly compensation to states under the GST regime against the current practice of doing so once in two months. "We might increase the frequency of giving compensation to states to every month," a senior official said.