Mirroring the uptick in the economy, corporate India's advance tax payments have jumped sharply in the April-June quarter of this fiscal.
Giving details of the advance tax collection, an Income Tax official said Life Insurance Corporate paid an advance tax of Rs 533 crore compared to Rs 469 crore in the year-ago period, representing a 13.6 per cent rise.
Today was the last day for making advance tax payments.
General Insurance Corporation saw a steep hike of 170.5 per cent in its advance tax payments at Rs 46 crore from Rs 17 crore in the year-ago period, while the steepest was that of HDFC Asset Management Company that paid Rs 60 crore compared to Rs 10 crore in the comparable period. HDFC AMC's higher tax payment also reflects the growth in capital markets.
Housing lender HDFC Ltd paid an advance tax of Rs 215 crore as against Rs 175 crore in April-June period last fiscal, while Yes Bank paid Rs 50 crore compared to Rs 27 crore.
Aditya Birla group company Hindalco paid Rs 55 crore compared to Rs 45 crore last year, reflecting a rise of 22.2 per cent, while Crompton Greeves gave Rs 38 crore as against Rs 28 crore a year ago, a 35 per cent increase.
However, there was no change in tax payments of FMCG major Hindustan Unilever that stood at Rs 75 crore, according to the tax department official.
Higher payment of advance taxes is a result of economic recovery and rising profitability of companies, the official told PTI.
The tax payments are in line with industrial production, which zoomed by 17.6 per cent in April, the first month of the current fiscal, from 1.1 per cent in the same period a year ago.
The GDP during the current fiscal is estimated to rise to 8.5 per cent from 7.4 per cent during 7.4 per cent in 2009-10.
Besides, indirect taxes, which include customs, excise and service tax, went up by 49 per cent to about Rs 35,000 crore during April-May 2010-11.
Others who paid higher advance taxes include Pharma major Glaxo Smithkline, which deposited Rs 42 crore this quarter as compared to Rs 39 crore a year ago, the official said.
Century Mills has also shown an upward performance by paying Rs 17 crore as against Rs 12 crore, while Greaves Cotton has shelled out Rs nine crore, up from Rs four crore in the first quarter a year ago.
Balakrishna Industries has paid Rs 13 crore in this quarter as against Rs seven crore in same period a year ago. Grandwell Norton has shelled out Rs five crore this time as against nil payment a year ago.
The government proposes to collect Rs 3.01 lakh crore as corporate tax during the current fiscal, up from Rs 2.5 lakh crore in the previous fiscal.