JOIN USIndirect tax kitty spurts in May
India’s indirect tax collection increased 37.3 per cent in May 2015 compared with the same period last year with excise duty collection showing a smart rise, signalling a revival in the manufacturing sector, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday. The cumulative indirect tax collection for April-May jumped 39.2 per cent.
Jaitley said excise duty collection in all three segments — customs, central excise and service tax — has shown rising trend in 2015-16, he said. “Data for indirect tax collections for the month of May is now available. In May 2015, collections have increased by 37.3 per cent. Therefore, cumulatively for April and May compared with the past year, the increase is by 39.2 per cent,” Jaitley told reporters, but did not give the break-up of tax collections.
Jaitley said the high tax collections were on account of the imposition of clean energy cess on diesel and petrol and withdrawal of exemptions in certain categories of indirect taxes.
He, however, said that even without the cess and exemptions, the increase in collection of indirect taxes in the month of May was 16.9 per cent year-on-year. “This is a very healthy growth in indirect taxes and since it is spread over all sectors it initially indicates a pickup in manufacturing; particularly the excise collections have moved up,” he added.
Asked if the increase in excise collection will be reflected in the growth in industrial production data to come out soon, he said: “Revenue is one indication. Industrial production is another. So cumulatively we have to add up all this.”
Later an official statement said that central excise collections registered an increase of 16 per cent while service tax collection registered a rise of 13.2 per cent during May this year.