One-third top taxpayers pay over 50% more advance tax in Q2

More than one-third of the top 50 corporate tax payers in the country have paid over 50 per cent more advance tax in the second quarter of this fiscal compared to the same period last year, showing signs of economic recovery.     

Advance corporate tax collections rose 14.7 per cent in the September quarter to Rs 44,010 crore against Rs 38,367 crore in the year-ago quarter, finance ministry officials said. In the first quarter, it had fallen 3.7 per cent at Rs 20,728 crore.     

The high growth in advance corporate tax payments for the second quarter was led by sectors such as PSU banks, software, automobile and energy. Sectors such as realty, mining and metals continued to remain down.      

Overall, of the top 50 corporate tax payers, only 12 companies paid less in the second quarter year-over-year and the major falls came from ONGC, NMDC, Tisco, HSBC, South Eastern Coalfields and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam.     

The maximum rise in banking was recorded by State Bank of Hyderabad (206 per cent), Bank of India (199 per cent), Canara Bank (170 per cent), Oriental Bank of Commerce (97 per cent), Union Bank of India (92 per cent), Corporation Bank (63 per cent) and Axis (58 per cent).     

Other firms that showed huge rise in advance tax payments include RIL (69 per cent), Airtel (221 per cent), Infosys (100 per cent), Maruti (98 per cent), PFC (52 per cent), Grasim (233 per cent), TCS (172 per cent), HAL (67 per cent), Bajaj Auto (89 per cent), Siemens (69 per cent) and ACC (257 per cent).     

The top five advance corporate tax payers up to the second quarter are SBI, ONGC, RIL, LIC and SAIL. Though tax collections fell for the two quarters from ONGC and SAIL, it showed a marked increase from SBI, RIL and LIC.