The indirect tax collections, which include customs and excise duty besides service tax, have touched Rs 1,69,863 crore during April-December 2006, up 22.4 per cent from the year-ago period.

With buoyancy in corporate profits continuing and economy posting a growth of over 9 per cent, indirect tax collections are up by as much as Rs 31,064 crore during the first nine months' this fiscal compared to the corresponding period last fiscal.

According to a Finance Ministry statement, customs duty collections touched Rs 70,872 crore during April-January 2007 period, growing by 34.3 per cent as against Rs 52,768 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal.

In spite of cuts in customs duty in January on cement, steel, maize, edible oil and certain other items, collections were up by 37.1 per cent touching Rs 6,920 crore as against Rs 5,047 crore during the same month last year.

Growth in excise collections remained sluggish, which grew by merely 6 per cent during April-January 2007 period touching Rs 90,677 crore as against Rs 85,528 during the corresponding month last fiscal.

In January, growth in excise collections was further down to 3.9 per cent, to Rs 10,428 crore against Rs 10,037 during the same period last fiscal.

Service tax collections have, however, shown a surprising growth of 64.6 per cent till December 2006, touching Rs 25,662 crore as against Rs 15,587 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal.