Direct tax mop-up accounts for 55 per cent of India's tax collection

Direct tax collection in India has increased ten times during the past decade and now accounts for 55 per cent of the country's total tax mop-up, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said today.

Mukherjee attributed this significant growth in direct tax collection to a shift in government policy over the past decade, whereby tax payers are not seen as adversaries.

Addressing the 63rd batch of IRS trainees on Thursday, the finance minister asked them to maintain the increased tax buoyancy and collection efforts and imbibe this approach in their daily working.

It was the buoyancy in revenue receipts that helped the government waive off the loans to farmers amounting to Rs71,000 crore, he pointed out.

Replying to the debate on Budget for 2010-11 in the Lok Sabha today, Mukherjee said there is ample liquidity in the system despite some tightening of RBI's monetary policy.

"Despite increase in the CRR, the banking system continues to be flush with surplus liquidity as reflected in the large amount of funds being placed under the reverse repo window of RBI on a daily basis," he said.

While admitting that the government policy was not strictly ant-inflationary, Mukherjee also ruled out a rollback of the hike in petrol and diesel prices, saying the nation's fiscal condition did not permit him to do so.

"I would have loved to respond to the request of the opposition but my financial condition does not permit me to do so," he said. "Kindly excuse me, he added.