Gross direct tax collection rose by 7.14 per cent in the April-November period of the current fiscal, as against an annual target of 15 per cent, on account of slower corporate activity.

The gross direct tax collection during the eight months of 2012-13 stood at Rs 3.25 lakh crore, up from Rs 3.04 lakh crore in the corresponding period last year, a Finance Ministry statement said.

Corporate tax collection during the period grew by three per cent at Rs 2.05 lakh crore. It was Rs 1.99 lakh crore during the corresponding period of last fiscal.

The personal Income Tax collection, however, was up by 14.94 per cent at Rs 1.19 lakh crore in the April-November period of this fiscal. It was Rs 1.04 lakh crore in the same period last year.

Wealth tax collection recorded a growth of 27.10 per cent at Rs 619 crore, against Rs 487 crore in same period last year.

Securities Transaction Tax ( STT) collection declined by 12.83 per cent at Rs 2,914 crore in the nine-month period, from Rs 3,343 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The net direct tax collection was up by a healthy 15.04 per cent to about Rs 2.71 lakh crore against Rs 2.35 lakh crore in the same period last year, primarily on account of lower refunds.

Country's industrial output in the April-September period this fiscal stood at 0.1 per cent, down from 5.1 per cent in the same period of 2011-12.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram had earlier said that I-T Department will adopt a non-adversarial approach in realising the direct tax target of Rs 5.70 lakh crore for 2012-13.

He had said collections would improve in the second half of the fiscal and the government would achieve the 15 per cent growth target during the financial year.