The government expects to meet its direct tax collections target of Rs 84,800 crore ($17.68 billion) for 2001/02 (April-March) despite a fall in collections up to October, a senior federal official said on Tuesday. "Collections till October have been down 1.7 per cent compared to the same period last year. But we expect to reach our target of Rs 84,800 crore comfortably," O.P. Srivastava, chairman of India`s Central Board of Direct Taxes, said.
The CBDT is responsible for monitoring direct tax collections.
He did not specify the amount raised in the first seven months of 2001/02. Last month, the finance ministry said that direct tax collections up to September declined 7.5 per cent to Rs 24,550 crore from Rs 26,541 crore a year ago.

"Collections would improve in the last two quarters," Srivastava told reporters on the sidelines of a business conference in Calcutta. He did not elaborate.

He said that the number of Indians assessed for income tax would increase to 35 million by March 2002 from the current 22 million. Bureau Report