Reflecting growth in earnings despite challenging market conditions, banks emerged as the biggest payers of advance tax in the fourth quarter of FY'09.

On the other hand, corporates underperformed in advance tax payments in Q4 on account of a visible slowdown in the economy and pain on export-oriented segments, coupled with lack of access to funds.

India's largest lender State Bank of India became the highest advance tax payer in the quarter with total tax outgo of Rs 1,810 crore.

Other leading tax payers amongst banks include Bank of Baroda (Rs 280 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 275 crore), Dena Bank (Rs 75 crore) and IndusInd Bank (Rs 26 crore), according to the Income Tax Department data.

India's largest oil company Indian Oil Corporation's (IoC) advance tax payments stood at Rs 150 crore, Reliance Industries at Rs 370 crore and engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro at Rs 245 crore for the quarter.

LIC's home loan subsidiary, LIC Housing Finance Ltd paid Rs 245 crore for the fourth quarter, the data showed.
The advance tax collected from Mumbai, which accounts for 35-40 per cent of the countrywide tax collection, is nearly Rs 99,000 crore until March 15, according to the data.

Companies are required to pay their advance taxes four times a year, based on their quarterly earnings.

Companies pay 15 per cent of their advance tax estimates by June 15, another 30 per cent by September 15, followed by another 30 per cent by December 15 and the balance by March 15.