Less than a week after Union Finance Minster P. Chidambaram declared ‘green shoots’ are visible on multiple fronts such as exports, the government released on Wednesday the direct tax collection figures, which are lacklustre.
The latest figures for gross direct tax collections reflect a growth of 11.58 per cent during April-October 2013-14 over the same period last financial year. The government has fixed direct tax collections target of over Rs.6.68 lakh crore for 2013-14, envisaging a growth of 19 per cent over the collections in 2012-13. According to the Finance Ministry’s statement released here, gross collections of corporate taxes increased by 8.23 per cent to Rs.2.10 lakh crore during April-October from Rs.1.94 lakh crore in the year-ago period.
Gross collections of personal income tax were up 17.89 per cent over the same period. The growth rate in direct tax collections net of refunds was 13.33 per cent.