According to provisional figures provided by government departments, direct and indirect tax collected between April and September 2001 amounted to Rs 77,422 crore, which is 34 per cent of the annual target. The collection was 6.2 per cent less than the tax collected in the first six months of the last fiscal.

Corporate tax collections stood at Rs 11,487.96 crore, which is 14.60 per cent less than the corresponding period last year. Individual tax collections (income tax) have declined by only 0.4 per cent at Rs 12,885 crore.

Of the indirect taxes, excise duty collections totaled Rs 31,365.79 crore, which is more than last years Rs 30,951.51 crore. Customs duty collections, however, decreased by 16.10 per cent, down from Rs 23,331.75 crore to Rs 19,581.43 crore.

One of the reasons for lower direct tax collections this year was the granting of higher refunds amounting to Rs 11,322 crore in comparison to the Rs 7,102 crore in the same period last year.

Till the last fiscal, the income tax department used to adjust refunds against current demands, which resulted in lower refunds. But in the current fiscal, the department has decided to actually refund whatever is due to the taxpayer, instead of adjusting it against current demands.