Indirect tax collections up 4.6% in April-August FY’15

The government's indirect tax collections grew 9 per cent year-on-year in August to Rs40,644 crore from Rs37,293 in the same month of the previous year, mainly on account of a jump in customs collections, indicating that there may be a pick-up in industrial activity in the coming months.

Indirect tax collections increased to 1,94,492 crore during April-August 2014, from Rs1,85,881crore in April-August 2013, posting an increase of 4.6 per cent during April-August 2014 over the corresponding period of the previous year, data released by the finance ministry on Friday showed.

Overall, tax collections during the first five months of the financial year stood at 31.2 per cent of the budget estimates for the whole of 2014-15.

Service tax collections increased to Rs61,870 crore during April-August 2014, from Rs53,751 crore in April-August 2013, recording an increase of 15.1 per cent.

Similarly, there was a 0.5 per cent increase in collection of central excise at Rs61,415 crore during April-August 2014 against Rs61,131 crore in April-August 2013 while customs duty collections increased by 0.3 per cent to Rs71,207 crore during April-August 2014, from Rs70,999 crore in April-August 2013.

While the overall growth rate was much lower than the targeted gross indirect tax growth rate of over 20 per cent for the current financial year, the August numbers will come as a relief for tax authorities as well as policymakers since indirect tax collections had witnessed a slowdown in July, clocking a growth of 4.9 per cent, mainly due to a poor show by customs.