Indirect tax collections in October dropped 2.5 per cent to Rs 30,278 crore mainly on account of a slowing economy and cut in customs and excise duties on petroleum products a few months ago.
Indirect tax revenue comprising Customs, excise and service tax was at Rs 31,058 crore in October 2010.
Realisations from Customs dropped 11.6 per cent in October to Rs 11,357 crore, from Rs 12,849 crore in the year-ago period, Finance Ministry sources said.
The central excise collections dropped 5.3 per cent to Rs 10,527 crore from Rs 11,120 crore in October 2010.
In June, the Government had slashed Customs and central excise duties to provide a relief to consumers from the hike in petrol prices that month. The cut meant an annual loss of Rs 49,000 crore to the central exchequer.
The decline in the total indirect tax collection in October would have been much sharper but for the 18.4 per cent growth in realisation from service tax, the sources said.
Service tax collections during the month rose to Rs 8,394 crore from Rs 7,089 crore in October 2010.
However, during April-October period, the indirect tax collection showed 17.8 per cent increase to Rs 2.01 lakh crore from Rs 1.70 lakh crore during the corresponding period in the last financial year.
The increase during the first seven months of the current fiscal was on account of higher collections from customs, central excise and service tax which rose by 16.6 per cent, 10.6 per cent and 33.6 per cent, respectively.