Direct tax mop up to exceed Rs 4.3 lakh cr target

The government is expecting to exceed the direct tax collection target of Rs 4.30 lakh crore for 2010-11 on the backdrop of high economic growth of 8.9 per cent recorded during the first half of the current fiscal.

Pinning hopes on higher tax realisation in the fourth quarter, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Sudhir Chandra today said: "We are hoping to exceed the budgeted target for net direct tax collections this fiscal."

According to certain estimates, total direct tax collections could be around Rs 4.5 lakh crore as against the budgetary estimate of Rs 4.3 lakh crore.

Encouraged by the high economic growth, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently raised the direct tax collection target by Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 4.5 lakh crore for the current fiscal.

Direct taxes mainly include corporate tax, income tax and wealth tax.

Indian economy has grown by 8.9 per cent during the first half of the current fiscal and according to estimates the growth rate during 2010-11 might go up to 9 per cent, up from 7.4 per cent recorded in the previous fiscal.

Rising economic growth is apparently having a positive impact on the tax collection figures.

The overall mop-up has been boosted by "good collections" under the Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) category, a senior I-T officer said.

The direct tax kitty has already risen by 19.47 per cent to Rs 2.99 lakh crore during the first nine months (April-December 2010) of this fiscal, making up for 69.53 per cent of the annual target.

During the first nine months of the current fiscal, the collections of corporate tax jumped by 22.07 per cent to Rs 2.03 lakh crore.

Also, Personal Income Tax grew at 14.57 per cent to Rs 92,295 crore during the period compared to Rs 83,178 crore in the same period last fiscal. The amount includes the Securities Transaction Tax, residual Fringe Benefit Tax and Banking Cash Transaction Tax.