Indirect tax collections up 46.2 per cent in April

Led by over two-fold surge in excise duty collections, indirect tax revenue jumped 46.2 per cent to Rs 47,747 crore in April this year compared to the same month last year.

Indirect tax collections, that include revenue from excise duty, service tax and customs duty, were at Rs 32,661 crore in April 2014.

"Indirect tax revenue (Provisional) collections increase from Rs 32,661 crore in April, 2014 to Rs 47,747 crore during April 2015, thus registering an increase of 46.2 per cent during the month of April 2015 over the corresponding period in the previous year," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

"This is an achievement of 7.4 per cent of the target fixed for BE 2015-16," the statement said. The budget target for indirect tax revenue is Rs 6,46,267 crore for 2015-16.

Giving details, the statement said central excise duty collection was at Rs 18,373 crore in April 2015, up 112.3 per cent over on an annual basis.

Service tax collections grew by 21.2 per cent to Rs 15,088 crore in April 2015 compared to Rs 12,451 crore in the same month in 2014.

Customs collections were Rs 14,286 crore in the month, up 23.6 per cent on an annual basis.

Indirect tax collection is linked to industrial output which is measured by the Index of Industrial Production.

The government proposes to bring down fiscal deficit to 3.9 per cent of GDP in 2015-16, 3.5 per cent by 2016-17 and 3 per cent by 2017-18.