Indirect tax collection grew at 2.9 per cent in April-July period this fiscal, mainly due to decline in excise duty mop up, reflecting slump in manufacturing activity, a finance ministry official said.

Total collection of indirect taxes -- excise, customs and service tax -- stood at about Rs 1,47,750 crore in April-July, the official said.

Excise collection dropped 11 per cent during the period under review to over Rs 48,000 crore, a sign that manufacturing output is slowing.

Customs mop up was up 9 per cent to Rs 56,500 crore during the period, the official said.

Service tax collection, which has become a new focus area for revenue officials, grew by 15 per cent to Rs 43,190 crore during the period.

In July, total indirect tax collection stood at Rs 39,000 crore, up 7.3 per cent from the same month last year. Excise duty collection declined 7.4 per cent at Rs 12,797 crore, the official said.

With an aim to widen the service tax net, the government introduced the concept of negative list of taxation. As per it, all services except those in the list, are taxable.

The Revenue Department is targeting 12 lakh non-filers and stop-filers of service tax to meet the annual target of Rs 1.81 lakh crore collection from this segment during this fiscal.

Government has set indirect tax collection target of Rs 5.65 lakh crore for 2013-14, up from Rs 4.73 lakh crore in the last fiscal.