The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, has expressed hope that the indirect tax collection target of Rs 3.92 lakh crore for the current fiscal will be met despite the economic slowdown.
“I am confident that the department (Central Board of Excise and Customs) would not spare any effort in meeting the target. In fact, already indications are there (of meeting Budget estimate),” Mr Pranab Mukherjee said here today, while speaking at a ceremony to hand over Presidential Awards to the officers of Customs and Central Excise.
He said that despite challenges on the fiscal front, indirect tax collections have been good this fiscal so far.
“As we approach the end of current fiscal, there are certain fiscal challenges that have to be addressed. The indirect tax collection figure up to January 2012 indicates that there has been some gains over last year,” he said.
The Government has fixed a target of Rs 3.92 lakh crore for indirect tax collections during 2011-12. Till April-January this fiscal, the total collection was Rs 3.17 lakh crore against Rs 2.75 lakh crore in April-January last fiscal.
As per advanced estimates, the economy is expected to grow at 6.9 per cent in the current fiscal, lower from 8.4 per cent in the previous year.
Despite this, in the first 10-months of this fiscal, the CBEC has been able to achieve nearly 81 per cent of Budget estimate for the current fiscal.