Direct tax kitty up 3.7% in Apr-Nov

Despite the economic recovery, the government's direct tax collections increased by a marginal 3.7 per cent to Rs 1.83 lakh in the first eight months of this fiscal compared to the same period a year ago.

There are just four months of this fiscal left to meet the target of Rs 3.7 lakh crore, almost double of the collected amount till November. The target was also revised to Rs 4 lakh crore later by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Finance Ministry officials, however, are confident that the budget target would be met.

The economy has stunned everybody by clocking 7.9 per cent growth in second quarter, fuelling hopes that growth would be around 7 per cent this fiscal.

Corporate taxes grew by 3.17 per cent to Rs 1.13 lakh crore as compared to Rs 1.09 lakh crore in the same period last year.

In the personal income tax segment, the government collected Rs 70,262 crore, up 4.53 per cent.

In November, the tax collections were nearly similar to last year as the mop-up was Rs 10,375 crore compared to Rs 10,346 crore in the month last year.

Corporate tax collections declined by about 30 per cent to Rs 3,214 crore against Rs 4,561 crore last fiscal.

In the April-November period, the collections by way of the Security Transaction Tax -- a tax on transactions on the bourses -- stood at Rs 4,349 crore, up 4.44 per cent, compared to last fiscal.

The government's tax collection was hit by the financial crsis which had impacted industry.