Indirect tax collection jumps 26% in April-September, direct tax 9%

New Delhi: Government's revenue collection in April to September -- the first half of the current fiscal -- saw indirect tax-mop up growing at an impressive 26 percent while that of direct tax came in at a tepid 9 percent.

The total direct and indirect tax collections at the end of September stood at Rs 7.35 lakh crore, almost half the Rs 16.26 lakh crore target for 2016-17.

The government is eyeing 12.64 percent growth in direct tax at Rs 8.47 lakh crore for the current fiscal and 10.8 percent in indirect tax at Rs 7.79 lakh crore.

Direct tax mop-up touched the Rs 3.27 lakh crore mark and indirect tax revenue stood at Rs 4.08 lakh crore during April-September, led by robust collections in personal income tax and excise duty, respectively.

Direct tax revenue includes corporate and personal income tax. Indirect tax takes into account mobilisation from excise, service tax and Customs duty.

The gross collection of corporate income tax (CIT) grew at 9.54 percent while under personal income tax (PIT), it was 16.85 percent over the corresponding period last fiscal.

After adjusting for refunds, however, the net growth in CIT collections is 2.56 percent while under PIT, it is 18.60 percent.

Refunds amounting to Rs 86,491 crore have been issued during April-September 2016, up 26.99 percent from a year ago.

Till September 2016, advance tax collections have hit Rs 1.58 lakh crore, a growth rate of 12.12 percent.

Excise duty collections clocked a growth of 46.3 percent in April-September to Rs 1.83 lakh crore while service tax recorded an increase of 22.1 percent at Rs 1.16 lakh crore.

Customs mop-up during the 6-month period was at Rs 1.08 lakh crore, registering a growth of 4.8 percent.