India’s indirect tax collection inches up 5.8% to Rs2,41,811 cr in April-September

Indirect tax collection in the country increased at a slow pace of 5.8 per cent in the April-September period of the 2014-15 fiscal, against the 25-per cent growth in indirect tax mop-up envisaged in the budget for the full financial year.

Collection of indirect taxes, comprising excise, customs and service tax, stood at Rs2,41,811 crore in the first half of the 2014-15 fiscal, against Rs2,28,619 crore in the corresponding period a year ago, the finance ministry said in a statement.

The government has set an indirect tax collection target of Rs6,24,000 crore for the whole of the 2014-15 fiscal.

In September, indirect tax collection grew 12.3 per cent to Rs48,012 crore. But even this growth rate may not be enough to reach the year's target.

Excise duty collection contracted marginally by 0.6 per cent during the April-September period to over Rs75,021 crore, showing a decline in domestic production.

Customs mop up, however, rose 5.5 per cent to over Rs89,324 crore during April-September period against Rs84,643 crore in the same period a year ago.

Service tax collection grew 13.1 per cent to Rs77,466 crore during the period, the statement said.

This could be attributed to a widening of the service tax base with the government introducing the concept of negative list of taxation. The negative list enables the government to bring all services except those in the negative list under the tax net.

Excise duty collection in September contracted by 0.4 per cent to Rs14,288 crore, whereas custom duty collections grew 32.8 per cent to Rs18,116 crore.