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| The unaudited results of 823 listed tax-paying companies shows advanced tax payment of Rs 15,032 crore during April-September 2003 compared with Rs 11,917 crore made in the corresponding six months of the previous fiscal. |
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| Advance tax payment accounted for almost 80 per cent of the total tax paid by corporates in H1. The total tax provision by corporates aggregated at Rs 18,779 crore in the first half. |
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| On the back of a 47 per cent profit before tax (PBT) growth, private sector companies have paid 55.2 per cent higher advance tax. However, they continued to account for one-third of the total tax paid by corporates. |
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| The dominance of public sector undertakings in advance tax payments continuous, with nationalised banks taking the lead. |
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| These banks have registered a 45 per cent rise in PBT, thus becoming the top tax payers. Their share in tax accounted for 63 per cent though tax provision of state-owned listed firms rose by a modest 13.5 per cent in the first half. |
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| Among the state-owned firms, advanced tax paid by banks rose by a hefty 52 per cent. The tax provision of non-bank PSUs, the big tax payers of last year, increased a marginal one per cent. |
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| ONGC tops the list of tax payers, having provided Rs 2,844.45 crore in the first half of 2003-04, up 19.4 per cent compared with Rs 2,381.50 crore in the same period of the previous year. |
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| The State Bank of India with Rs 1,195.56 crore tax provision ranked second. Indian Oil Corporation, which ranked third in the list, showed a drop of 49.3 per cent in tax provision to Rs 872.69 crore (Rs 1,720.71 crore). |
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| In the private sector, ITC has made the highest provision of Rs 403.10 crore, up 11.15 per cent compared to Rs 362.65 crore in 2002-03. |
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| Tata Steel, which ranked second among private players, showed a nearly nine-fold rise in tax provisions to Rs 367.57 crore. |
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| Reliance Industries was the third largest tax payer, making a 160 per cent higher tax provision to Rs 366 crore. |
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| Other major tax payers include BPCL (Rs 351 crore), Bank of Baroda (Rs 335 crore), HPCL (Rs 333.19 crore), Punjab National Bank (Rs 280.71 crore), MTNL (Rs 244.97 crore) and Canara Bank (Rs 241.73 crore). |
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