A 50% growth in personal income tax collections has helped the Centre’s gross tax collection surge 23.65% in the first quarter of the current financial year. Personal income tax collections in the April-June period rose almost 50% to Rs 2.9 lakh crore from Rs 1.9 lakh crore in the same period the previous year. Corporate taxes also showed strong growth with 26% year-on-year increase. Revenue from corporate taxes in the April-June 2024 quarter reached Rs 1.75 lakh crore compared to Rs 1.39 lakh crore in the same period last year.
However, indirect tax collections have been subdued for the government with central GST collection showing only a 10% growth. Customs and excise duty collections have shown a decline during the period.
Owing to strong tax and non-tax collections, the fiscal deficit during the April-June 2024 period showed a decline against last year. The fiscal deficit in value terms during the quarter was Rs 1.45 lakh crore, which is one third of Rs 4.51 lakh crore in the year-ago period. The sharp decline is largely because of the Rs 2.11 lakh crore RBI dividend that the government received in the current financial year.
The government also managed to keep its expenses in check vis-à-vis the previous year. It spent only Rs 9.7 lakh crore in the first three months of the current financial year compared to Rs 10.5 lakh crore a year ago. The capital expenditure by the central government fell 35% year-on-year in April-June period to Rs 1.8 lakh crore compared to Rs 2.8 lakh crore a year ago.
Meanwhile, as the last date for filing income tax returns ended on Wednesday, around 7 crore ITRs were filed as per the latest data available with the income tax efiling website. As many as 5.5 crore ITRs had been verified and 2.6 crore verified ITRs had been processed. On 31st July, 50 lakh ITRs had been filed till 7 pm. Tax department sources told TNIE that the deadline for filing returns will not be extended beyond 31 July.
