With most companies in the financial capital paying higher advance tax in the fourth quarter, the Mumbai circle of the Income-Tax Department is confident of achieving the direct tax collection target of Rs 1.78-lakh crore for this fiscal despite worries of slowdown and investment dip.
Corporate houses have to pay advance tax on their projected earnings a fortnight before the end of every quarter.
According to I-T Department sources that requested anonymity, the top 50 companies remitted Rs 57,000 crore, which is about 15 per cent more than the tax they paid in the corresponding period last year.
The top 100 companies in Mumbai account for 30 per cent of the overall annual corporate tax collection.
The Securities Transaction Tax collection has touched Rs 4,700 crore and is fast inching towards last year’s mark of Rs 5,114 crore.
“We should mop up Rs 400-500 crore more by the end of this month,” a source said.
Life Insurance Corporation remitted Rs 1,080 crore as the advance tax for this quarter against Rs 971 crore last year. Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation paid in Rs 600 crore (Rs 567 crore).
MIXED BAG FOR BANKS
However, State Bank of India, the country’s largest bank, remitted lower advance tax of Rs 1,450 crore this quarter ( Rs 1,650 crore in the same period last year).
Similarly, Reliance Industries’ outgo was lower at Rs 1,034 crore (Rs 1,130 crore).
ICICI Bank remitted 29 per cent more at Rs 550 crore, while HDFC Bank and Standard Chartered Bank paid Rs 700 crore (Rs 600 crore) and Rs 435 crore (Rs 495 crore), respectively.
Among public sector banks, the tax outgo of Bank of India almost doubled to Rs 790 crore (Rs 400 crore) while Central Bank of India’s was Rs 151 crore (Rs 100 crore). However, Bank of Baroda’s tax outgo was lower, at Rs 350 crore (Rs 410 crore).
Infrastructure major L&T paid 72 per cent lower, at Rs 80 crore (Rs 290 crore) while Tata Steel’s payments were down 58 per cent at Rs 380 crore (Rs 900 crore).
Given the buoyancy in the IT sector, TCS, a Tata Group company, paid Rs 600 crore (Rs 545 crore). Among the Aditya Birla Group companies, Hindalco Industries’ payment was down 34 per cent at Rs 95 crore, Grasim Industries’ was stagnant at Rs 90 crore, while UltraTech Cement paid 17 per cent lower tax at Rs 150 crore (Rs 180 crore) reflecting the stress in their business environment.
Holcim Group ACC and Ambuja Cement paid higher tax of Rs 227 crore (Rs 149 crore) and Rs 280 crore (Rs 250 crore). IDBI payment was up at Rs 265 crore (Rs 190 crore).
The outgo of auto companies Mahindra and Mahindra and Bajaj Auto increased to Rs 205 crore (Rs 178 crore) and Rs 300 crore (Rs 293 crore), respectively.