Mumbai: Net direct tax collections in the first four months of the current fiscal (April-July 2008) stood at Rs71,648 crore, up 46.95 per cent from Rs48,756 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Growth in corporate taxes was 50.08 per cent (Rs41,598 crore as against Rs27,718 crore), while personal income tax (including FBT, STT and BCTT) grew at 42.82 per cent (Rs29,982 crore as against Rs20,993 crore).

Fringe benefit tax (FBT) grew 44.34 per cent (Rs1,260 crore against Rs873 crore) while the securities transaction tax (STT) was up 15.46 per cent (Rs2,164 crore against Rs1,874 crore) and banking cash transaction tax (BCTT) up 33.75 per cent (Rs223 crore against Rs167 crore).

Regionwise, tax growth in Mumbai and Delhi was 36.33 per cent and 76.40 per cent, respectively. Other regions with high tax growth were Nagpur (77.80 per cent); Kochi (58.08 per cent); Kolkata (49.87 per cent); Hyderabad (40.69 per cent) and Bangaluru (40.25 per cent).

Growth in direct tax collection has been driven by a growth of 44.56 per cent in tax deducted/collected at source (TDS/TCS), which stood at Rs45,935 crore as against Rs31,776 crore in the earlier year.

Growth in corporate TDS/TCS was particularly high at 60.6 per cent.

The robust growth in direct tax collections has been attributed to tax education and compliance mechanism put in place by the income tax department in the area of TDS/TCS. The authorities see scope of further improvement in tax administration and tax compliance levels.

The cost of direct tax collection, on the other hand, had declined to an all-time low of 0.54 per cent during fiscal 2007-08, amongst the lowest in the world.