Indirect tax collections inched up by 5.8 per cent in the April-September period of this fiscal.
Indirect tax collections, comprising excise, customs and service tax, stood at Rs.2.42 lakh crore in the first six months of 2014-15 as against Rs.2.29 lakh crore in the corresponding period a year ago, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
The growth at 5.8 per cent is far less than 25 per cent annual increase envisaged in the budget for 2014-15.
Excise collections contracted marginally by 0.6 per cent during six-month period to over Rs.75,021 crore.
Customs mop up rose by 5.5 per cent to over Rs.89,324 crore during period under reference against Rs.84,643 crore in the same period a year ago.
Service tax collections, which have become a new focus area for revenue officials, grew by 13.1 per cent to Rs.77,466 crore, the statement said.
With an aim to widen the service tax net, the government had introduced the concept of negative list of taxation. As per it, all services except those in the negative list are taxable.
The indirect tax collections target for 2014-15 stands at Rs.6.24 lakh crore.
Indirect tax collections in September grew by 12.3 per cent to Rs.48,012 crore.
Excise duty mop up in September contracted by 0.4 per cent to Rs.14,288 crore.
