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Our Bureau

New Delhi, Sept. 12 After recording a modest 2.1 per cent year-on-year growth in July 2007, the Centre’s excise duty collections have registered 9 per cent growth in August 2007 to Rs 9,898 crore as compared to collections of Rs 9,082 crore recorded in the same month last year. The excise duty collections in July 2007 stood at Rs 9,388 crore.

For the first five months of the current fiscal (April-August 2007), the Centre’s excise duty collections grew 6.3 per cent to Rs 44,469 crore as compared with Rs 41,836 crore in the same period last year.

Official sources said that no particular trend was visible as far as excise duty collections in the current fiscal were concerned, but noted that achieving budget estimate for 2007-08 might be a difficult task if the performance so far is any sign.

For 2007-08, the Budget estimate on excise duty has been pegged at Rs 1,30,220 crore. This represents a 9.43 per cent increase over the Budget estimate of Rs 1,19,000 crore pegged for 2006-07. The actual collections in excise duty in fiscal 2006-07 were Rs 1,17,266 crore.

Historically, the first half of the financial year showed sluggish growth rate in excise duty collections. “We are entering the festival season, which are usually the best months for many industries as factory clearances improve on the back of increased consumer demand,” a Revenue Department official said.

To plug excise revenue leakages, the Centre has already embarked on number of initiatives including high impact audits. It has also tightened oversight on certain sectors that are excise duty evasion prone.

Meanwhile, the Centre’s customs duty revenues continue to be buoyant, with collections in April-August 2007 recording 18.74 per cent growth to Rs 40,571 crore as compared with collection level of Rs 34,169 crore in the same period last year.

In August this year, the Centre’s customs duty collection stood at Rs 8,725 crore, which represents a 17.46 per cent increase over the collection level of Rs 7,428 crore recorded in the same month last year. For 2007-08, the Centre has budgeted customs duty collection at Rs 98,770 crore, which is about 28 per cent higher than the Budget estimate of Rs 77,066 crore for 2006-07.

More Stories on : Economy | Excise and Customs

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