Belying concerns over slowdown, indirect tax collections increased 16.1% to Rs 2,85,787 crore during April-December mainly driven by an uptick in service tax mop-up.
Total collections of indirect tax -- Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax -- were Rs 2,46,168 crore in the same period last year.
"We hope we will be able to meet the Budget Estimates of Rs 3,92,908 crore (from indirect taxes) this fiscal," Chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) SK Goel told reporters while releasing the data.
The indirect tax collections in three quarters of 2011-12 are about 72.7% of the Budget Estimates.
The mop-up has shown a growth despite Rs 36,000 crore revenue forgone on account of customs and excise tax cut on petroleum products. The levies were slashed in June to provide a cushion to consumers against hike in prices of diesel, kerosene and LPG were hiked.
The tax mop up in December was Rs 34,819 crore, up 15.9% from Rs 30,054 crore in the year ago period.
"December has given a positive news particularly on the Central Excise front, as the collections increased by 9.7% to Rs 12,546 crore [year-on-year]," Goel added.
The growth in excise collection is a positive news, he said as the mop up had declined by 6.5% in November and by 8.7% in September. It had shown a growth in October.
Goel further said that service tax collections continues to be strong and has shown 48.6% expansion in December to Rs 9,665 crore from the year ago period.
There has been concerns on the economic growth prospects of the country in wake of high cost of credit coupled with global scenario. The economy is expected to slow to about 7% this fiscal, against 8.5% in the previous year.
As per indirect tax data, the collections in customs duty increased to Rs 12,608 crore in December, up 4.1% from 12,109 crore in the same month of 2010. During April-December, the customs collections were 1,12,670 crore, up 13.8% year-on-year.
Hoping that excise duty mop-up will further increase in the remaining months of the fiscal, Goel said officials have been asked to further streamline collection process.
When asked what is the reason for increase in excise collections in December, he said small businesses have started paying the levy. Besides, businesses which have exhausted their CENVAT credit are now paying the tax in cash.
Excise collections in December was 12,546 crore and in three quarters were Rs 1,05,411 crore. Service tax collections in December were Rs 9,665 crore and during April-December was Rs 67,706 crore.
The CBEC chief also said that the extension of date to file service tax to January 6 has also helped in increasing the collections of levy. He indicated that the deadline for service tax may be further extended.
The board has achieved 74.3%, 66.2% and 82.6% collections of Budget Estimates for customs, central excise and service tax, respectively.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today met Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and CBEC officials of North Zone to take stock of tax collections scenario and asked them to further increase the realisation.
The revised Budget Estimates for both direct and indirect taxes are higher. The revenue collections estimate is Rs 7.89 lakh crore.
