Direct tax collections in Q1 FY 21-22 jumps 66% from that of FY 19-20

Income tax data accessed by The Indian Express shows the total direct tax collection for FY 21-22 as on June 14 stood at Rs 1.68 lakh crore up by 66 per cent from Rs 1.01 lakh crore in FY19-20, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic.

direct tax collections, direct tax mop-up

The collection this year is also 85 per cent higher than the year ago figure of Rs 91,160 crore but the numbers are not comparable because India had imposed the world's strictest lockdown in April and May 2020. (File photo)

Notwithstanding the devastating second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, direct tax collection for the first quarter of the current financial year has surpassed the mop-up in the corresponding period of FY19-20.

Income tax data accessed by The Indian Express shows the total direct tax collection for FY 21-22 as on June 14 stood at Rs 1.68 lakh crore up by 66 per cent from Rs 1.01 lakh crore in FY19-20, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic. This number is likely to increase as the advance tax payment will end only by midnight today, said sources.

The collection this year is also 85 per cent higher than the year ago figure of Rs 91,160 crore but the numbers are not comparable because India had imposed the world’s strictest lockdown in April and May 2020. As on June 14, the tax department has achieved about 15 per cent of the total budget estimates of Rs 11.08 lakh crore this financial year.

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The rise in the direct tax collection is an indicator that this time around the economy has not suffered as severe an impact as it did in the first quarter of FY20-21. High frequency data like the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI), and rail freight also show a lower impact in May 2021 compared to a year ago. Similarly, Goods and Services Tax collections surpassing Rs 1 lakh crore for the eight month in a row in May show that the economic impact of the lockdown has been muted.

According to the direct tax data, in the first three months of FY 21-22, corporate tax collections rose to Rs 62,229 crore from Rs 17,780 crore in the same period in FY 19-20, while income tax collection rose to Rs 1 lakh crore from Rs 81,070 crore in the same period in FY 19-20.

Mumbai, which contributes about 32 per cent to the overall direct tax collection, has collected Rs 49,646 crore or 14.31 per cent of its overall tax target of Rs 3.46 lakh crore, as on June 14. The Bengaluru circle has collected Rs 24,025 crore of direct taxes in the first quarter of this financial year, followed by Delhi at Rs 21,254 crore, Chennai at Rs 11,544 crore and Hyderabad at Rs 11,351 crore as on June 14.