Most of the large companies have increased their advance tax payments for the fourth quarter by double digits compared to last year in perhaps the first set of good news for the Narendra Modi government. State Bank of India (SBI) leads the list with Rs 1,720 crore advance tax payment this quarter, 19% more than the year-ago period, followed by Reliance Industries that increased its advance tax payment by 17% at Rs 1,594 crore, official sources said.

Industry trackers say higher advance tax payments indicate that most of the large corporates would see their tax liability increase due to a rise in their profits this fiscal. The income-tax department has stopped disclosing advance tax figures for the past one year after some opposition from certain individual taxpayers over the same.

By the second quarter, many companies pay around 30%-40% of their tax liability and the rest at the end. In the current financial year the advance tax has jumped compared to last year on improved macro-economic environment.

Hindustan Unilever and Life Insurance Corporation of India saw the biggest jump in advance tax payments in percentage terms with increases of 72% and 38%, respectively. Top financial institutions including HDFC Ltd, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, too, saw a jump in their advance tax payments. Some big companies, however, saw a decline in their advance tax payments. Passenger vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra saw a 36% fall in its advance tax payment for the fourth quarter at Rs 115 crore while Larsen & Toubro paid 41% less than last year at Rs 170 crore.

The income-tax department is set to collect a total around Rs 7,36,000 crore by the end of March. Of this, around Rs 2,30,000 crore will be through advance tax collections, sources said.