The Finance Ministry on Monday said that the net direct tax collection grew 24 per cent to ₹8.77-lakh crore in the April-November of the current fiscal i.e., 2022-23.
“Direct tax collection net of refund stands at ₹8.77-lakh crore as of November 30, which is 24.26 per cent higher than the net collection for the corresponding period last year,” the Ministry tweeted.
The collection accounts for 61.79 per cent of Budget Estimates (BE) for FY2022-23. Refunds amounting to ₹2.15-lakh crore were issued between April 1 and November 30, about 67 per cent higher than the last year.
The Budget estimated direct tax collection at ₹14.20-lakh crore this fiscal, higher than ₹14.10-lakh crore collected last fiscal (2021-22).
Tax on corporate and individual income comprises of direct taxes. It estimates to get around ₹13.30-lakh crore from indirect taxes (Custom Duty, Central Excise and CGST).
With the present rate, the Finance Ministry is hopeful of direct tax collection exceeding the budget estimate. Similar expectation is from indirect taxes too.
In an interview with businessline last month, then Revenue Secretary, Tarun Bajaj said, “We will not only achieve, but we will also exceed those targets by a good margin. Direct taxes collection should be up by 25-30 per cent over FY22. On the indirect tax front, we gave relief on customs and excise duty. Despite that we expect customs duty collection to exceed Budget Estimates by a good margin.”
Among indirect taxes, GST collections have exceeded ₹1.40-lakh crore in each of the first seven months of the current fiscal year. So far, 67 per cent of the BE for GST collection at the Centre has already been achieved in the first seven months.
However, Customs and central excise duty collections have been slightly lower. Data from CGA show Customs duty collection in the first six months of the current fiscal at ₹86,267 crore, which is around 6.9 per cent lower than ₹92,653 crore in the corresponding previous period.
Central excise collections at around ₹1.40-lakh crore were over 18 per dent lower than the ₹1.71-lakh crore in the corresponding previous period. Collections declined mainly on account of the rate cuts. Still expectation is collection of Customs and excise duty will be close to Budget Estimates.