India expects healthy tax revenue growth in FY23, says Tarun Bajaj

Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj

India is likely to see “healthy” growth in tax revenues for this financial year that began on April 1, revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj said on June 9.

“I would need another one month about how we are going ahead with our revenue figures. But whatever indicators I have at present, I feel optimistic and I think this year again we will be able to do far better than we thought initially when we were making the budget,” Tarun Bajaj said at an event in Mumbai.

This is in spite of the fact that the government has given some duty concessions on customs, excise duty, and indirect taxes, he said.

“I think on the GST front, we are doing better and on the direct taxes front also we are doing good,” Bajaj said. “We should have a healthy growth on tax revenues."

The government estimates its gross tax collections at Rs 27.58 lakh crore in this financial year and non-tax revenue at Rs 2.70 lakh crore. Goods and Service Tax, or GST collection in May stood at Rs 1.4 lakh crore against an all-time high of Rs 1.68 lakh crore in April.

India is slowly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and is estimated to grow at 7.2 percent this fiscal year, according to the Reserve Bank of India.

At this point in time, the country is facing challenges of inflation, current account deficit, fiscal deficit, and currency valuation, the revenue secretary said today.

“Above all, we also have to ensure that during all this time, we are able to grow at a healthy rate,” Bajaj said.

The government’s desire continues to lower inflation, the revenue secretary added.

“Both RBI and the government have taken a few steps and I hope these efforts will bear fruit and we will be able to see stability in our macroeconomic indicators in the times to come,” Bajaj said further.

The government on May 21 cut excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre, in its bid to tamp down soaring price pressures. The revenue implication for the excise duty cut will be around Rs 1 lakh crore per year.