Indirect tax collections grew 11% in the first month of the current fiscal despite a decline in excise collection, the government said on Wednesday. Excise duty collection fell by 3.9% to Rs 6,410 crore in April from Rs 6,673 crore a year ago. Customs duty collection grew by 24.9 % to Rs 9,018 crore in April against Rs 7,221 crore in the same month last year, thanks to high growth in imports.

Total indirect tax collection (excluding service tax) rose by 11 % to Rs 15,428 crore against Rs 13,894 crore during the period. Excise duty collection has been falling short of target for quite some time.

Revised estimates for collections under this head had to be cut to Rs 1,27,947 crore for 2007-08 from Rs 1,30,220 crore in the budget estimates. Even this truncated target could not be met and the Centre could collect only Rs 1,25,000 crore from excise duty during the year.