Buoyed by strong show on industrial growth front, the Centre's net direct tax collections grew 15.49 per cent in the first quarter this fiscal to Rs 68,675 crore (Rs 59,465 crore). This growth is substantially higher than the 3.65 per cent year-on-year growth seen in net direct tax collections in the first quarter of 2009-10.

Much of this growth performance could be attributed to the robust increase in corporate tax payout for the quarter under review. For the April-June 2010 period, corporate tax collections grew 21.65 per cent to Rs 43,439 crore (Rs 35,709 crore), official data showed. Corporate tax collections grew 3.31 per cent in the first quarter of 2009-10.

For the June 15 instalment in 2010, corporate advance tax stood at Rs 26,876 crore, reflecting a 31.4 per cent increase over Rs 20,456 crore collected in the same instalment last year. The 31.4 per cent growth is the highest since 2005, according to an official release here. The corresponding growth in corporate advance tax stood at -3.4 per cent, 25.1 per cent, 30 per cent and 26.9 per cent for FY 2008-09, 2007-08, 2006-07 and 2005-06, respectively.

Personal income-tax (including securities transaction tax or STT, and residual FBT and BCTT) grew 1.24 per cent to Rs 24,075 crore (Rs 23,780 crore) during the first quarter of 2010-11.

Meanwhile, STT collections nosedived to Rs 1,094 crore during April-June 2010, reflecting a 25.21 per cent decline over Rs 1,462 crore collected in same period last year. This steep fall in STT collections is being attributed to the decline in stock market turnover for the period under review. STT collections had declined even in the first quarter of last year to Rs 1,462 crore against Rs 1,623 crore in April-June 2008, reflecting a decline in value of trade in stock market.

In Budget 2010-11, the Government had pegged the direct taxes collection target for the current fiscal at Rs 4.3 lakh crore. The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, recently said at an income-tax commissioners' conference that he expects the Revenue Department to better this Budget Estimate, although the target was not being formally revised upwards.