Direct tax collection up at Rs 5.82 lakh crore till Jan

Mumbai: The Government on Friday released important numbers on total direct and indirect tax collections in country. The statistics that were made public by Finance Ministry were for the period starting April 2016 to January 2017.

According to Finance Ministry, net direct tax collections were up 10.79 per cent to Rs 5.82 lakh crore up to January 2017. The figure was in comparison to the direct tax collections recorded in corresponding period last year.

The numbers were revealed close on the heels of finance minister Arun Jaitley saying in his Union Budget 2017 speech that the tax to GDP ratio was abysmally low. According to finance ministry, tax revenues contributed only 2 per cent to Gross Domestic Product.

The personal income tax collections also went up during the period under reviews. It recorded a 21 per cent growth rate for the period as compared to corresponding period last year.

Besides, collections for the corporate tax were not far behind. A sizable 11.7 per cent growth in corporate tax was registered, the finance ministry said. Total refunds worth Rs 1.41 lakh crore were made that was a growth of more than 41 per cent as against refunds in corresponding period last year.