India’s direct tax collection up 17.7% at ₹19.58 lakh-cr, exceeds budget estimate by ₹13,000-cr

India's net direct tax collections for FY2024 stood at ₹19.58 lakh crore against ₹16.64 lakh crore in the last financial year, representing a growth of 17.7%.

Net collections of income and corporate taxes, which make up for most of the direct taxes, in the financial year ended March 31, 2024, exceeded the Budget estimates by ₹1.35 lakh crore (7.40%) and the revised estimates by ₹13,000 crore.

The government had raised the target for direct tax collection in FY24 (April 2023 to March 2024) to ₹19.45 lakh crore in the interim Budget presented on February 1.

Revised budget estimates for direct tax revenue was ₹19.45 lakh crore

"The Budget Estimates (BE) for Direct Tax revenue in the Union Budget for FY 2023- 24 were fixed at ₹18.23 lakh crore which were revised and the Revised Estimates (RE) were fixed at ₹19.45 lakh crore," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.

With this, the gross tax collection target as per the revised estimate stood at ₹34.37 lakh crore for FY24.

While gross direct tax collections (provisional) for the FY 2023-24 rose 18.48% to ₹23.37 lakh crore, net proceeds (after accounting for refunds) surged 17.7% to ₹19.58 lakh crore, reflecting buoyancy in the economy and rise in income levels of individuals and corporates.

Refunds aggregating to ₹3.79 lakh crore have been issued in FY 2023-24, the CBDT said in a statement.

"The provisional Direct Tax collections (net of the refunds) have exceeded the Budget Estimate by 7.40% and Revised Estimates by 0.67%," it said.

The Gross collection (provisional) of Direct Taxes (before adjusting for refunds) for FY24 stands at ₹23.37 lakh crore showing a growth of 18.48% over the gross collection of ₹19.72 lakh crore in FY23.

"The Gross Corporate Tax collection (provisional) in FY 2023-24 is at ₹11.32 lakh crore and has shown a growth of 13.06% over the gross corporate tax collection of ₹10 lakh crore of the preceding year. The Net Corporate Tax collection (provisional) in FY 2023- 24 is at ₹9.11 lakh crore and has shown a growth of 10.26% over the net corporate tax collection of ₹8.26 lakh crore of the preceding year," the CBDT said.

The Gross Personal Income Tax collection including Securities Transaction Tax (provisional) in FY 2023-24 at ₹12.01 lakh crore was up 24.26% over previous year's collection of ₹9.67 lakh crore.

The Net Personal Income Tax collection including STT (provisional) in FY 2023-24 at ₹10.44 lakh crore showed a growth of 25.23% over preceding fiscal year's figure of ₹8.33 lakh crore.

Refunds of ₹3.79 lakh crore have been issued in the FY 2023-24 showing an increase of 22.74% over the refunds of ₹3.09 lakh crore issued in FY 2022-23, the statement added.

Even the indirect tax collection for FY24 has exceeded the revised estimates (RE) of ₹14.84 lakh crore by "a handsome margin", helped by a record GST mop-up, a top government official said.

In a letter to field officials, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) chairman Sanjay Kumar Agarwal recently said, “I am happy to inform that the indirect tax collections for the Financial Year 2023-24, including Customs and Union Excise Duty have exceeded the Revised Estimates by a handsome margin”.

With PTI inputs