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Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday announced that indirect tax revenue collections for the month of May have increased, adding that the trend indicates a pick-up in the manufacturing sector.
"Data for the indirect tax revenue collections for the month of May have increased by 37.3%. Therefore cumulatively for April and May, compared to the past year, the increase is by 39.2%. This increase is based over all three categories: customs, central excise and service tax. A significant part of this increase is on account of the addition cess that was imposed on diesel and petrol and there has been a withdrawal of excise duty on motor vehicles and certain categories of consumable durables," Jaitley told the media.
"Even if the impact of these additional sectors is excluded, in May the increase would be 16.9% and cumulatively 12.6%. This is a very healthy growth in indirect taxes and it initially indicates a pick-up in manufacturing because the excise collections have gone up," he added.
