Direct tax fetches Rs 2.78 lakh crore till Feb

The direct tax collections were up 7.52 per cent in the first 11 months against Rs 2.58 lakh crore in the same period last fiscal. The Finance Ministry officials are confident that direct tax collection target of Rs 3.87 lakh crore, revised from Budget estimate of Rs 3.70 lakh crore, for the current fiscal would be met as taxpayers are likely to give more than a lakh crore in the last month. The last installment of advance tax payment is also expected by March 15. Corporate taxpayers are required to pay 25 per cent and non-corporate taxpayers 40 per cent of their advance taxes in March. During February, growth in direct tax collections was 27.54 per cent on a year-to-year basis. The tax collection stood at Rs 14,675 crore against Rs 11,506 crore in February 2009. There had been a negative growth of 19.84 per cent in January. Corporate tax collections grew by 10.89 per cent to Rs 1.80 lakh crore in April-February compared to Rs 1.62 lakh crore in the 11-month period last year.