Govt raises indirect tax collection target by 7 pc

New Delhi, Jan 27 (PTI) Boosted by higher revenue mop-upduring April-December 2010-11, the Government today said ithas upped indirect tax collection estimates by 7 per cent forthis fiscal, from the Budget target of Rs 3.15 lakh crore.

The decision comes on the heels of Revenue SecretarySunil Mitra saying earlier this week that the direct taxcollection target has been raised from Rs 4.30 lakh crore toRs 4.46 lakh crore for the current fiscal.

"The revised estimate for tax (indirect) collection hasbeen increased by seven per cent," Central Board of Excise andCustoms (CBEC) Chairman S Dutt Majumder told reporters on thesidelines of International Customs Day function here.

In the Budget 2010-11, the government targeted acollection of Rs 3.15 lakh crore through indirect taxes --from customs, excise and service tax.

Customs duty collection has increased by about 68 percent during April-December 2010-11 from the correspondingperiod last fiscal. Similarly, the year-on-year growth inexcise duty and service tax collections increased by 33 percent and 18 per cent, respectively.

Majumder said the Centre was actively engaged with stategovernments for implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST),which will replace the existing indirect taxes regime.

GST would further improve tax collection, he said.

CBEC is upgrading its IT infrastructure on various portsand taking steps to bring down transaction costs.