FY12 indirect tax target of Rs 3.98 lakh cr to be met: CBEC

The slowdown in industrial activities notwithstanding, the government today said it is confident of achieving its FY12 indirect tax collection target of Rs 3.98 lakh crore, an 18% increase year-on-year.

"Our revenue collection is robust right now. Total indirect tax collection is 23.9% up till August. I don't think, there is any reason for concern (on meeting target). We are confident of achieving the target," CBEC Chairman S Dutt Majumder told reporters on the sidelines of a CII meet here.

He said central excise and service tax collections were good and so was customs duty collections.

Led by robust service tax collections, the indirect tax mop-up in the April-August period rose by 23.9% to Rs 1,57,725 crore.

The government has fixed an indirect taxes collection target of Rs 3.98 lakh crore for the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), compared to Rs 3.38 lakh crore last fiscal.

There were apprehensions on the indirect tax collection front as industrial output measured on the basis of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) slowed to a 21-month low of 3.3% in July. In addition, the government has slashed customs and excise duty on petroleum products, which contribute Rs 49,000 crore annually to the Centre's coffers.

The CBEC chairman, however, maintained that the cut in duties on petroleum products would not impact revenue collections.

On taxation of services based on a negative list, Majumder said it was under discussion.

"That call (on negative list) will be taken later, as the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has announced that he wants to have an informed debate on the subject, whether we should go for a positive list or negative list. So we have thrown that debate open," he said, without giving any timeframe for completing the exercise.

The Finance Ministry recently released a draft negative list of services. The negative list approach means that all services that are not included in the list would be taxed.

Majumder, however, said that service tax collection would increase if the negative list approach is followed.