NEW DELHI: Centre’s gross direct tax collections went up 4.1% to Rs 21.5 lakh crore, dragged down by sluggish growth in income tax, where govt had offered significant concessions in the last budget.During the financial year up to Jan 11, non-corporate tax, as govt refers to income tax, was 1.2% higher at Rs 10.6 lakh crore, according to the latest data released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes. Corporation tax increased 7.7% to around Rs 10.5 lakh crore during this period.Refunds were, however, 16.9% lower at Rs 3.1 lakh crore with a 25% fall in the case of non-corporate tax (to Rs 1.3 lakh crore) and a 10% decline for corporate tax (Rs 1.8 lakh crore).On a net basis, collections were 8.8% higher at nearly Rs 18.4 lakh crore. “A 9% net collection growth is encouraging and seems to indicate that govt may be on track to achieve the yearend target. However, it is on the back of significantly lower refunds being released to both corporate and individual taxpayers. Exact details of why the trends on refunds diverging significantly from previous year are not very apparent,” said Rohinton Sidhwa, partner at Deloitte India.
