Indirect tax revenue jumps 24% in April-January; direct tax up 10.79%

Government's revenue collection from indirect tax grew by an impressive 23.9 per cent during the April-January period, while that from direct tax rose by 10.79 per cent.

Total direct and indirect tax collections at the end of January stood at Rs 12.85 lakh crore, 76 per cent of the Rs 16.99 lakh crore target, according to revised estimate for 2016-17.

Belying fears of slowdown due to demonetisation, indirect tax collection grew at a decent 16.9 per cent in January buoyed mainly by excise, reflecting an uptick in manufacturing.

At the end of January, the total direct tax collection stood at Rs 5.82 lakh crore and indirect tax-mop up was Rs 7.03 lakh crore led by robust collections in personal income tax and excise duty, respectively.

Direct tax revenue includes corporate and personal income tax. Indirect tax takes into account mobilisation from excise, service tax and Customs duty.

The gross collection of corporate income tax (CIT) grew at 11.7 per cent while under personal income tax (PIT), it was 21 per cent over the corresponding period last fiscal.

After adjusting for refunds, however, the net growth in CIT collections is 2.9 per cent while under PIT, it is 23.1 per cent.

Refunds amounting to over Rs 1.41 lakh crore have been issued during April-January, up 41 per cent from a year ago.

Mop up from excise duty — a reflection on manufacturing activity — clocked a growth of 40.5 per cent in April-January at Rs 3.13 lakh crore.

Service tax revenues too recorded an increase of 22 per cent at Rs 2.03 lakh crore.

Customs mop-up during the 10-month period was at Rs 1.86 lakh crore, registering a growth of 4.7 per cent.

ICRA Principal Economist Aditi Nayar said that while the tax collection growth remains healthy, there has been a slowdown in the pace of expansion of excise duty and service tax collections in January 2017 compared to the nine months ending December 2016.

"Nevertheless, the revised estimates for FY2017 for indirect tax collections of the Government are likely to be achieved," Nayar said.