ONGC has dislodged State Bank of India (SBI) to emerge as the largest advance taxpayer for 2010-11 with a payout of Rs 8,492 crore (Rs 6,283 crore).

For the March 15 instalment too, ONGC has made the largest advance tax payout at Rs 2,269 crore (Rs 1,690 crore).

SBI, which had topped the 2009-10 top 10 advance taxpayers' league, has now moved down to the second position with a payout of Rs 6,143 crore, a 6.24 per cent decline over Rs 6,552 crore forked out by the bank in the previous year.

The overall advance tax payout of the top 10 advance taxpayers' has recorded a 29.88 per cent increase in 2010-11 at Rs 39,896 crore (Rs 30,717 crore in 2009-10). This payout was also much higher than the advance tax of Rs 32,946 crore paid by the top 10 companies in 2009-10.

Meanwhile, private sector presence in the 2010-11 top 10 advance taxpayers' league has gone up. There are now three private sector players — Reliance Industries, Piramal Healthcare and Tata Steel.

In 2009-10 top 10 taxpayers' listing, there were only two private sector players — Reliance Industries and ITC.

Piramal Healthcare Ltd has entered 2010-11 the top 10 listing largely due to its deal with US-based Abbott Laboratories, which had acquired the former's generic-drugs unit for $3.72 billion. Thanks to this deal, Piramal Healthcare has forked out an advance tax of Rs 3,525 crore during 2010-11 as against Rs 71 crore advance tax paid by the company in the previous year, official sources said.

SAIL, which held the third position in 2009-10 listing, has now moved to the tenth position with a payout of Rs 2,394 crore (Rs 3,363 crore).

Corporates are required to pay by March 15 aggregate advance tax equivalent to 90 per cent of their estimated tax liability in a financial year.

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