| Advance tax collection in the second quarter of the current financial year is likely to be robust though a definite trend is yet to emerge.
According to the indicative figures available, Reliance Industries has paid around Rs 425 crore for the quarter ended September 30 as against Rs 225 crore for the corresponding quarter in the previous year.
State Bank of India is understood to have paid around Rs 800 crore (Rs 138 crore last year). However, it is comparable to around Rs 756 crore paid in the first quarter. While ICICI Bank paid Rs 450 crore (Rs 152 crore last year), Bank of Baroda paid Rs 150 crore (Rs 110 crore).
Among other companies, Associated Cements paid around Rs 125 crore (Rs 53 crore) and Indian Oil coughed up Rs 211 crore compared with Rs 260 crore last year. Even as official figures are yet to be released, Gujarat Ambuja and Mahindra and Mahindra are expected to be among the top tax payers . However, collections from Tata Steel are not likely to be high.
The advance tax collection by the Mumbai Income-Tax Department for the April-June 2006-07 quarter had indicated a marginal improvement in the performance of the Indian corporate sector over last year.
While State Bank of India was one of the lead players by paying Rs 356 crore as against Rs 280 crore in the year-ago period, Tata Steel paid around Rs 265 crore.
The department usually garners net advance taxes of around Rs 10,000- 12,000 crore. However, in the last quarter the figure was lower at around Rs 7,000-8,000 crore. The overall collection for the second quarter is slated to be around Rs 20,000-25,000 crore.
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