Corporate India’s advance tax payout for the June 15 instalment has seen a modest increase of 4.9 per cent.

This reflects muted expectations on the financial performance front for the entire financial year, although there is no direct correlation between tax paid and corporate earnings.

For the same instalment last year, corporate India’s advance income tax payout recorded a healthy 18 per cent rise, despite higher input costs and escalating interest rates. India Inc’s advance tax payments for the June 15 instalment in 2010, too, recorded 19 per cent growth.

For the latest June quarter, corporate advance tax payout stood at Rs 32,882.70 crore, registering a 4.9 per cent increase over Rs 31,346.60 crore collected for the same instalment last financial year.

The sharp fall in growth of corporate advance tax payout in June quarter comes in the backdrop of sluggish factory output growth in April and May.

The current economic slowdown is an important reason for this subdued growth in corporate advance tax payout, official sources said. Traditionally, corporate tax collections pick up in the second half of the financial year. The last quarter of a financial year is the all important one and accounts for 40 per cent of annual collections.

Meanwhile, the Centre’s gross tax collections, as of June 18, stood at Rs 84,333 crore. It had crossed the Rs 1-lakh crore mark the same time last year.

The Budget estimate for direct taxes in 2012-13 has been pegged at Rs 5.70 lakh crore, 15 per cent higher over Rs 4.95 lakh crore collected in 2011-12.

> krsrivats@thehindu.co.in

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