India’s April-February indirect tax mop-up falls below 89 per cent of target
10 Mar 2012
Indirect tax collections in India lagged at 88.7 per cent of the budget target for the first 11 months of the current financial year (April-February 2011-12) despite a 14.6-per cent increase in indirect tax collections in February this year.
Indirect tax collection in the country rose 14.6 per cent to Rs3,48,702 crore in the first 11 months of the current financial year (April-February 2011-12) from Rs28,705 crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.
Indirect tax collections increased 9.6 per cent to Rs31,469 crore year-on-year in February 2012 compared to the corresponding month of the previous financial year.
Growth in February indirect tax revenue collections in February was also 2.4 per cent higher compared to growth in indirect tax revenue collection in the previous month.
Further, the progressive growth during April-February of current fiscal has shown 14.6 per cent growth over the corresponding period of last financial year.
The increase in tax collections was mainly to the buoyancy in service tax collections, which increased 37.3 per cent year-on-year in February to Rs7,122 crore.
Customs revenue, which grew 12 per cent to Rs136,214 crore for the first 11 months of the fiscal, however, showed a declining trend, growing at just 5.9 per cent in February to Rs12,151 crore.
Collections of central excise, which had shown steady growth of 6.2 per cent at Rs129,926 crore for the April-January period showed a declining trend in February at Rs12,196 crore, growing at a megre 1.3 per cent.
However, indirect tax collections have only reached 88.7 per cent of the budget estimates for the April-February 2011-12 period.