Government may miss indirect tax collection target in FY'15
Indirect tax collection may fall short of the annual target by an estimated Rs 90,000 crore
New Delhi: Indirect tax collection may fall short of the annual target by an estimated Rs 90,000 crore in the current fiscal, mainly because of subdued industrial activities, a senior finance ministry official has said.
The revenue target for indirect taxes for the current financial year is Rs 6.23 lakh crore, projecting a growth rate of about 25 per cent. Indirect tax revenues rose marginally by 5.6 per cent in the April-October period to over Rs 2.85 lakh crore. Excise collection, which is an indication of economic activity, declined by 1.2 per cent to Rs 88,330 crore during this seven-month period of the ongoing fiscal.
On the other hand, service tax collection increased 10.9 per cent to Rs 90,673 crore and the mop up from customs rose 7.5 per cent to over Rs 1.06 lakh crore in April-October. Economic growth, after remaining at sub-5 per cent in last two financial years, is estimated to be between 5.4-5.9 per cent in 2014-15. During the April-September period of 2014-15, industrial output growth as measured by Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew at 2.8 per cent.