India's net direct tax collections for 2023-24 grew 17.70 percent to Rs 19.58 lakh crore compared to Rs 16.64 lakh crore in the previous financial year and surpassed the Budget estimate for FY24 by 1.35 lakh crore, or 7.40 percent.
The budget estimate for direct tax mop-up for the previous fiscal was fixed at Rs 18.23 lakh crore, which was later revised upwards to Rs 19.45 lakh crore.
The provisional actual collections have slightly exceeded the revised estimate as well by Rs 13,000 crore or 0.67 percent, the finance ministry said in a release on April 21. The gross collection of direct taxes (before adjusting for refunds) for the 2023-24 came in at Rs 23.37 lakh crore, up 18.48 percent compared to FY23.
While corporate tax collection for 2023-24 in gross terms is at Rs 11.32 lakh crore, 13.06 percent higher versus the preceding year, in net mop-up terms it came in at Rs 9.11 lakh crore, up 10.26 percent on a year-on-year basis.
In personal income taxes, gross mop-up stood at Rs 12.01 lakh crore, growing 24.26 percent on-year, while in net terms it grew 25.23 percent to Rs 10.44 lakh crore registered in the preceding year.
Tax refunds
The government has issued direct tax refunds of Rs 3.79 lakh crore in 2023-24, which is an increase of 22.74 percent compared to Rs 3.09 lakh crore it issued in 2022-23. Healthy tax collection is significant since it helps the government meets its fiscal deficit target for a particular year.
The Centre lowered its fiscal deficit target for FY24 to 5.8 percent from 5.9 percent earlier, while for the current fiscal it has been set at 5.1 percent.
Direct taxes, which are levied on the income or profit of a person, are directly paid by an individual to the government without any intermediaries.
Common examples of direct taxes are income tax, property tax, corporate tax, wealth tax, gift tax, security transaction tax, and capital gains tax.
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