Direct tax mop-up till February high but below target

March requires 20% jump to meet year's goal; CBDT chief tells staff to sweat it out to meet target

Direct tax collection grew by 10.7 per cent in the first 11 months of this financial year (April 2016 till February 2017) over the same period a year before, less than the set target.

The full-year target is Rs 8.47 lakh crore or 14.3 per cent more. With Rs 6.17 lakh crore collected in these 11 months, March has to see a 20-plus per cent growth to achieve the target.

The subdued tax numbers were due to fall in growth of both corporation tax due to still-awaited recovery in the performance of companies and personal income tax in April-February compared to April-January