Govt collects Rs 6.97 lakh cr in tax during Apr-Feb

The government today said it has collected over Rs 6.97 lakh crore in direct and indirect taxes between April and February of this fiscal.

While about Rs 3.69 lakh crore was collected in direct taxes, over Rs 3.28 lakh crore was mopped up through indirect taxes up to February 2012, Minister of State for Finance SS Palanimanickam said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

In Budget 2011-12, the government had estimated that it would collect Rs 5.33 lakh crore during the fiscal through direct taxes, the number was later revised to 5 lakh crore.

The Budget estimate for indirect tax collection was Rs 3.97 lakh crore which was later scaled to Rs 3.98 lakh crore.

To a query if there was a shortfall in the collection, Palanimanickam said: "Since, the financial year has not ended, whether there will be a shortfall against revised estimate 2011-12 cannot be said at this stage."

He added that the contribution of Customs, Central Excise and Service tax in total indirect tax collection during April 2011 to February 2012 was Rs 1.35 lakh crore (41.1%), Rs 1.16 lakh crore (35.3%) and Rs 77, 529 crore (23.6%), respectively.