RIL highest Q2 advance taxpayer

For the quarter ending September, Reliance Industries Ltd's advance tax payment stands at Rs 1,670 crore, compared with Rs 1,534 crore year ago, making it the highest advance taxpayer in the Mumbai circle. Life Insurance Corporation of India paid the second-highest amount - Rs 1,624 crore, against Rs 1,307 crore in the corresponding period last year.

During the quarter, public sector banks saw a fall in advance tax payments, owing to provisioning requirements on account of an increase in bad loans and stricter norms for provisioning towards debt restructuring, said a senior income tax official. The strict provisioning norms would impact the profitability of government-owned banks.

During this quarter, Central Bank of India paid Rs 200 crore, compared with Rs 268 crore in the year-ago period, Dena Bank paid Rs 50 crore (Rs 185 crore in the year-ago period), Bank of Baroda paid Rs 630 crore (Rs 620 crore in the September quarter last year) and State Bank of India's advance tax payment rose 17 per cent to Rs 1,312 crore.

Foreign and private banks paid higher advance tax. While HDFC Bank paid Rs 1,375 crore (up 25 per cent), ICICI Bank paid Rs 975 crore (Rs 815 crore a year ago). Kotak Mahindra Bank likely paid Rs 190 crore, compared with Rs 160 crore a year ago.

Among foreign banks, Citi Bank paid Rs 610 crore (Rs 400 crore a year earlier), while Standard Chartered bank paid 16 per cent more than a year ago at Rs 550 crore. HSBC saw its outflow fall to Rs 425 crore.

This year, the growth in advance tax payments of the top 100 companies for the Mumbai circle is expected to see seven-eight per cent growth this quarter. So far this financial year, it had risen 11 per cent, said a senior IT official. For the Mumbai circle, the advance tax payment target for this financial year stands Rs 2.5 lakh crore, against Rs 1.74 lakh crore in 2012-13.

This quarter, Indian Oil Corporation paid Rs 255 crore as advance tax, while Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd paid Rs 200 crore.

Cement companies' advance tax payout declined this quarter. Ambuja Cement paid Rs 115 crore, while UltraTech and ACC paid Rs 160 crore and Rs 85 crore, respectively.

Among the pharmaceutical companies that figure in the top 50 payers to the Income Tax Department, Lupin paid Rs 165 crore (Rs 100 crore a year ago) and Cipla paid Rs 95 crore (Rs 80 crore in the year-ago period).

It is expected the tax outflow of Bennett and Coleman Company was flat at Rs 90 crore, while Hindustan Unilever likely paid Rs 320 crore, a tad more than a year ago. Larsen & Toubro likely paid Rs 350 crore, while Hindalco is expected to have paid Rs 90 crore.