Budget 2024-25: Net direct tax collections for FY24 jumps nearly 21% to Rs 13.70 lakh crore

Refunds amounting to Rs 2.25 lakh crore have been issued so far in 2023-24, the finance ministry said on December 18.

India's net direct tax collections from April 1 to December 17 were up 20.7 percent year-on-year at Rs 13.70 lakh crore, according to provisional data shared by the Ministry of Finance.

Within overall direct tax collections, the corporate tax mop-up amounted to Rs 6.95 lakh crore, while personal income tax and securities transaction tax together came in at Rs 6.73 lakh crore.

Before adjusting for refunds, gross direct tax collections for April 1-December 17 stood at Rs 15.96 lakh crore, up 17 percent year-on-year. Of this, gross corporate tax collections during the same period stood at Rs 7.90 lakh crore, while gross personal income tax and securities transaction tax stood at Rs 8.03 lakh crore, the ministry said in a statement on December 18.

The budget for 2023-24 had forecast a growth of 10.5 percent in direct tax collection to Rs 18.2 lakh crore.

On December 7,  Moneycontrol reported citing officials that the growth in direct taxes is likely to exceed the budget target and settle around 17-18 percent in the current fiscal on account of the widening of the tax base due to an increase in compliance.

The latest figures on the Union government's tax collections further solidify expectations that the Centre will meet its fiscal deficit target of 5.9 percent of GDP for 2023-24. In the first seven months of the current financial year, the fiscal deficit was Rs 8.04 lakh crore, or 45.0 percent of the full-year target of Rs 17.87 lakh crore. Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha on December 18, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said the Indian government is likely to achieve its fiscal deficit target o 5.9 percent for 2023-24.

In its statement on December 18, the finance ministry also said it had issued refunds amounting to Rs 2.25 lakh crore so far in the current financial year, according to the provisional data.

"Provisional figures of total Advance Tax collections for 2023-24 (as on December 17, 2023) stand at Rs 6.25 lakh crore, against Advance Tax collections of Rs 5.21 lakh crore for the corresponding period of the immediately preceding Financial Year, showing a growth of 19.94 percent," the finance ministry further said, adding that this comprised of corporate tax of Rs 4.82 lakh crore and personal income tax of Rs 1.43 lakh crore.