Indirect tax collections up 14%

Indirect tax collections in April-February 2011-12 increased 14.6 per cent to Rs 3,48,702 crore, compared with Rs 3,04,212 crore in the corresponding period of the last financial year. This is nearly 88.7 per cent of the Budget Estimate for the full financial year.

In February, these rose only 9.6 per cent to Rs 31,469 crore, against Rs 28,705 crore last year, with excise collections still the problem. The government now needs to collect about Rs 44,000 crore in March to meet its year’s target of Rs 3,93,000 crore.

In 2010-11, indirect tax collections were Rs 3,40,000 crore, surpassing the Budget Estimate of Rs 3,15,000 crore. In March 2011, the government had collected about Rs 58,000 crore but at the time, the economy was also growing at a higher rate.

“The overall growth in indirect tax revenue collection during the month of February is 2.4 per cent higher than last month’s position,” the finance ministry said on Friday.

The Central Board of Excise & Customs has said it expects the Budget target to be met. Among indirect taxes, central excise collections have fallen on some occasions.

In February, however, these rose merely 1.3 per cent, to Rs 12,196 crore. Overall growth during the 11-month period was 6.2 per cent higher, to Rs 1,29,926 crore.

Growth in collections from customs duty also saw some moderation. It was Rs 12,151 crore in February, an increase of 5.9 per cent over last year. During the 11-month period, these posted a rise of 12 per cent to Rs 1,36,214 crore.

On the other hand, buoyancy in service tax revenues continued, with collections showing growth of 37.3 per cent to Rs 7,122 crore during February. Over April-February, service tax collections increased 36.9 per cent to Rs 82,562 crore.

The government’s revenue streams are under stress this year, due to a slowing economy, expected to grow 6.9 per cent in 2011-12, compared with 8.4 per cent last year. Direct tax collections are expected to fall short of the target of Rs 5,32,00 crore by a huge margin.