India's customs and excise tax rose to Rs.194.21 billion in September, compared to Rs.181.61 billion in the same period last year, said the finance ministry Thursday.

According to the ministry, the growth in indirect tax collection (provisional) has been 6.9 per cent in September this year, while the cumulative customs and excise tax collection stood at Rs.1.13 trillion in the April-September period against Rs.1.03 trillion in the past corresponding period.

The ministry said there was a growth of over 13 per cent in the collection of service tax (provisional) in August, totalling Rs.37.02 billion.

"Up to August this year, the service tax collection went up to Rs.23,051 crore (Rs.230 billion) as compared to Rs.18,316 crore (Rs.183.16 billion)," said a finance ministry official.

He said there was a growth of 25.9 per cent in service tax collection till August, and was likely to improve when the actual figures were out.