 "Excise duty mop-up grows 34% in H1; overall revenue collection down 22%")
Robust excise duty collection in the first half of the current financial year has come as a respite for the fiscally stressed Union government. Excise duty mop-up posted 34 per cent growth in April-September compared with the same period last year, and was the only revenue segment seeing an expansion.
The collection in the first half, of Rs 1.29 trillion, the highest in three years, recorded growth after three years of decline. This can be attributed to the steepest hike by the government in taxes on petrol and diesel in the form of cess and special additional duty in May,
