Banking behemoth State Bank of India has emerged as the No 1 advance taxpayer for the June 15 instalment this year, dislodging oil explorer ONGC.

The country's largest commercial bank made an advance tax payout of Rs 1,100 crore (Rs 869 crore), which was higher than ONGC's tax payout of Rs 1,062 crore for the same instalment. Last year, for the June 15 instalment, ONGC was the No 1 advance tax payer with a payout of Rs 1,093 crore. This shows that ONGC's payout this year has declined by 3 per cent.

On an aggregate basis, the advance tax payout by the top ten taxpayers grew 21 per cent to Rs 6,209 crore. Last year, for the June 15 instalment, the top ten advance taxpayers' payout stood at Rs 5,131 crore, registering a 16 per cent increase over the payout in the previous year.

Reliance Industries remained at the No 3 spot, with a payout of Rs 900 crore (Rs 653 crore). There are now two new entrants — ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank — in the top ten advance tax payers' league for the June 15 instalment this year. SAIL and ITC, which figured in last year's list, have both slipped.

Private sector presence in number terms improved this year. There were three private sector companies — Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank — in the top ten list. Reliance Industries and ITC were the two private sector companies that figured in the top ten list for the June 15 instalment in 2010.

Software, auto sectors

On the sectoral front, the software biggies have increased their advance tax payouts. While Infosys' advance tax payout stood at Rs 300 crore (Rs 250 crore), TCS paid Rs 250 crore (Rs 128 crore) for the June 15 instalment. Wipro's advance tax payout stood at Rs 97 crore (Rs 30 crore).

In the auto sector, there was a mixed trend with Bajaj Auto and Mahindra & Mahindra making higher payouts. Bajaj Auto's advance tax payout grew 13.64 per cent to Rs 125 crore (Rs 110 crore). Mahindra & Mahindra's advance tax payout grew 42.86 per cent to Rs 90 crore (Rs 63 crore). Maruti Suzuki paid advance tax of Rs 80 crore, reflecting a 16 per cent decline over Rs 95 crore advance tax paid in June last year.

Tata Motors' advance tax payout was lower at Rs 60 crore (Rs 65 crore). Hero MotoCorp paid advance tax of Rs 77 crore, which was marginally higher than the Rs 76 crore paid for the same instalment last year.

comment COMMENT NOW