Amid sharp slowdown India faces first fall in direct taxes in more than 2 decades

Mumbai, Jan 24: For the first time, in at least the last two decades India's corporate and income tax collection for the current year is likely to fall. as per a report over half a dozen senior tax officials have confirmed it, amid a sharp fall in economic growth and cut in corporate tax rates.

Reportedly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led-BJP government was targetting direct tax collection of Rs 13.5 lakh crore for the year ending March 31 - a 17 per cent increase over the prior fiscal year.

However, a drastic decline in demand has stung businesses, that is forcing the firms to cut investment and leading to lay off, denting tax collections and prompting the government to forecast 5 per cent growth for this fiscal year - the slowest in 11 years.

According to a senior tax official, the tax department had so far collected only Rs 7.3 lakh crore till January 23, more than 5.5 per cent below the amount collected by the same point last year.

After collecting taxes in advance from different firms for the first three quarters, officials typically gathered 30-35 per cent of annual direct taxes in the final three months, as per data from the past three years.