India’s net direct tax collection between April 1 and September 16, 2023, stood at Rs 8.65 lakh crore, up 23.5 per cent on an annualised basis, data showed on Monday.
This tax collection by the government includes personal income tax of Rs 4.47 lakh crore and corporate tax of Rs 4.16 lakh crore, as per a Ministry of Finance statement. Tax refunds worth Rs 1.22 lakh crore have been issued by the government during the current financial year.
Gross tax collected, before adjusting refunds, was Rs 9.87 lakh crore, up around 18.3% year-on-year.
The total revenue from corporate and excise tax collections is expected to be in line with budget estimates for the current fiscal year, financial services secretary Ajay Seth said on Thursday.
Corporate tax, which is the second largest component of direct taxes after personal income tax, as well as excise duty collections, declined by 10.4 per cent during the first four months of the ongoing fiscal.
This comes against an over 14 per cent plunge in tax mop-up in the first quarter as against an over 26 per cent jump in the in the year-ago period.
During the April-July period, the gross tax revenue stood at Rs 8.94 lakh core, just 2.8 per cent higher than the same period last year, according to data from the Controller General of Accounts.
In order to meet the target of Rs 33.61 lakh crore in FY24, which is 10.1 per cent higher from Rs 30.54 lakh crore collected in FY23, gross tax collections will have to rise 12.9 per cent on-year during August-March.
Muted tax collections have led to widening of the fiscal deficit to 25.3 per cent of the budgeted target in the first quarter of FY24 compared to 21.2 per cent witnessed in the same period last year.
(More to come)
