Will meet indirect tax target of Rs 3.98 lakh crore this fiscal: Finance Ministry

20 Sep 2011 Evaluate

The Finance Ministry is hopeful of meeting the indirect tax collections target of Rs 3.98 lakh crore this fiscal, despite industrial growth slowing down to 5.8% in the first four months against 9.7% in the corresponding period of last fiscal. Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman S Dutt Majumder said, ‘our revenue collection is robust right now. Total indirect tax collection is 23.9 percent up till August. I don’t think there is any reason for concern (on meeting target). We are confident of achieving the target.’

By adding further he said, central excise and service tax collections were good and so was customs duty collections. Followed by the robust service tax collections, the indirect tax mop-up in the April-August period rose by 23.9% to Rs 1,57,725 crore. The government, on the contrary has pegged indirect taxes collections at Rs 3.98 lakh crore for this fiscal, representing a growth of 18% over Rs 3.38 lakh crore last fiscal.

Uncertainties were expressed whether indirect tax collections target would be met, as industrial growth plunged to a 21-month low of 3.3% in July. Besides, the government has cut customs and excise duties on petroleum products, which contribute Rs 49,000 crore annually to the Centre kitty. On this the CBEC chairman, however, maintained that the cut in duties on petroleum products would not impact indirect tax mop up.

Given that fiscal deficit has already reached 7.88% of GDP in the first quarter, the government cannot afford to overlook the tax collection at this point in time. On taxation of services based on a negative list, the CBEC chairman said the discussion is on whether to have a negative list or a positive one. ‘That call (on negative list) will be taken later, as the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has announced that he wants to have an informed debate on the subject, whether we should go for a positive list or negative list. So we have thrown that debate open,’ he added.

The CBEC chairman, however, said that service tax collection would increase if the negative list approach is pursued. The draft negative list of services was recently released by the finance ministry.

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