Corporate tax payout growth in Mumbai tepid in Dec quarter

Corporate tax payout growth remained marginal in the December quarter from Mumbai, which contributes the lion's share of the total levy, sources at the Income Tax Department said.
The advance tax payment deadline closed today.
Sources said State Bank of India is reported to have paid around Rs 1,425 crore as advance tax for the December quarter, up from Rs 1,130 crore a year ago. Housing finance major HDFC is likely to have paid 13 per cent more at Rs 735 crore compared to Rs 650 crore paid in the year-ago quarter.
State-run lender Bank of Maharashtra is reported to have paid Rs 135 crore for the December quarter, according to sources.

The I-T Department is aiming at mopping up Rs 2.30 lakh crore from the financial capital this fiscal out of the direct tax collection target of Rs 7.36 lakh crore in 2014-15.
Against this, net direct tax collection rose a paltry 7 per cent to Rs 2.68 lakh crore in the first half of 2014-15 against a target of over 17 per cent.

For the third quarter in a row, the I-T officials here declined to share the numbers to the media.
In the September quarter, advance tax collections were close to the targeted 17 per cent growth from the city.

Advance tax is a system of staggered payment of taxes by high earning corporates and individuals spread across four quarters. In the second quarter, corporates pay 30 per cent of their year's overall tax outgo. It is generally taken as a barometer of a company's performance for a particular period.
The poor reported numbers put a question mark on the high tax collection target set by the Government in the budget on the direct tax front. The April-November indirect tax collection grew a paltry 7.1 per cent against targeted 19 per cent.
While Indian economy grew at 5.5 per cent in the first half, the third quarter numbers from the exports to factory data have been disheartening.

The October IIP surprisingly contracted 4.2 per cent. In November, exports inched up over 7 per cent to USD 25.96 billion. During April-November, exports were up 5.02 per cent to USD 215.75 billion, while imports rose 4.65 per cent to USD 316.37 billion.