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State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, on Monday paid Rs 1,290 crore as advance tax for the first quarter of the current financial year, a rise of four per cent over the same period last year.
“We have paid Rs 1,290 crore as against Rs 1,240 crore (in the first quarter of the last financial year),” a bank official, who declined to be identified, said.
HDFC Bank, the second largest private lender, is likely to have paid about Rs 1,000 crore in taxes, an almost 22 per cent jump from the Rs 820-crore outgo a year ago, sources said.
Its parent, HDFC, registered a 12 per cent jump in advance tax payment at Rs 465 crore, company sources said.
YES Bank, the fifth largest private lender, logged a 36-per cent growth in outgo at Rs 170 crore, bank sources said.
Advance tax payment is a system of staggered payments of income taxes across the year done on a quarterly basis. Typically, companies pay 15 per cent of their tax liabilities in the first quarter, which goes up as the financial year progresses.
The amount of taxes paid by a company is also a barometer of its performance for the period and how it sees the year turning up. It can also serve as evidence to establish the credentials of the economy, especially in times when there are question marks over recovery.
Officials from the income tax department in Mumbai, which contributes over a third of the direct tax collections nationwide, were tight-lipped on the payments by corporates so far.
