Excise duty collections sustained the momentum gained in the previous month in July, helping the overall indirect tax receipts to grow at 4.9% to R41,890 crore.
Collections from central excise, customs and service tax in the April-July period grew at 3.9% to R1.54 lakh crore, representing a fourth of the R6.2 lakh crore targeted for the full fiscal.

Relying on a recovery seen in excise duty receipts which signalled a moderate pick-up in manufacturing,

finance minister Arun

Jaitley recently said the revenue target for indirect taxes for the fiscal were challenging but were very much achievable.

Central excise collections grew steadily at 7.5% in July to R14,127 crore after an 8.1% growth recorded in the previous month. On account of the poor collection in the initial months of the fiscal, excise collection in the first four months still showed a contraction of 0.4% at R48,195 crore.

Customs duty receipts showed a paltry growth of 0.2% in July at R15,756 crore despite having recorded a 6% growth in the previous month. In the April-July period, import duty receipts showed a 2.2% contraction at R55,303 crore.

Service tax receipts grew at 8.4% in July to R12,007 crore, down from 28% growth recorded in the previous month. In the first four months of the fiscal, service tax receipts grew at 16.4% to R50,850 crore.