Indirect tax collections grew at 4.1 per cent in the April-August period of this fiscal, a finance ministry official said.
Total collection of indirect taxes — excise, customs and service tax — stood at about Rs 1,67,000 crore during the first five months of the 2012-13 fiscal.
Excise collection for April-August period stood at Rs 62,000 crore, whereas customs mop up was Rs 71,000 crore during the period.
Service tax collection, which has become a new focus area for revenue officials, stood at Rs 34,000 crore during the period.
In August, total indirect tax collection stood at Rs 31,200 crore, up 9 per cent from the same month last year.
With an aim to widen the service tax net, the government introduced the concept of negative list of taxation. As per it, all services except those in the list are taxable.
Government has set indirect tax collection target of Rs 5.65 lakh crore for 2013-14, up from Rs 4.73 lakh crore in the last fiscal.