Subdued corporate tax realisation on account of slow economic activity kept growth in gross direct tax collection at a mere 6.59 per cent during the April-October period of the current fiscal.
The collection during the first seven months of 2012-13 was Rs 3.02 lakh crore, up from Rs 2.84 lakh crore in the same period last year, a Finance Ministry statement said.
Corporate tax collection during the period grew by just 2.01 per cent at Rs 1.93 lakh crore (Rs 1.89 lakh crore).
The country’s industrial growth rate declined to meagre 0.4 per cent in the April-August period, compared to 5.6 per cent in the same period last fiscal.
The personal income tax collection, however, was up by 15.78 per cent at Rs 1.08 lakh crore (Rs 93,769 crore).
Wealth tax collection recorded a growth of 25.84 per cent at Rs 526 crore, against Rs 418 crore in same period last year.
Securities Transaction Tax (STT) collection declined by 15.42 per cent at Rs 2,502 crore in the April-October period (Rs 2,958 crore).
The net direct tax collection registered a growth of 14.63 per cent to about Rs 2.50 lakh crore (Rs 2.18 lakh crore).
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had, however, expressed confidence of meeting the direct tax target of Rs 5.70 lakh crore for 2012-13.
He had said collections would improve in the second half of the fiscal and the Government would achieve the 15 per cent growth target during the financial year.