The Income Tax Department, which is gunning to mop up Rs 2.30 trillion from the financial capital this fiscal, today said the September quarter collections are close to the targeted 17 per cent growth.

"The numbers are positive, we are close to the target of 17 per cent growth over the same period previous fiscal," a senior official told reporters.

The official, however, refused to share details which will justify the claim. Details of collections from the top-100 corporates, which are generally shared by the department to illustrate trends, were also not shared with the media.

During the past two quarters too, the department officials refused to share the payout details.

However, new-age private sector lender Yes Bank came out with a statement announcing a 20.18 percent jump in its outgo to Rs 238 crore during the quarter.

According to sources, mortgage major HDFC paid 13.08 per cent more tax in the reporting quarter at Rs 735 crore as against Rs 650 crore a year ago.

The Mumbai circle, which contributes the lion's share of the total direct tax collections in the country, is targeting a 17 per cent increase over last year at Rs 2.30 trillion.

The direct tax collection target for the fiscal is Rs 7.36 trillion.

Advance tax is a system of staggered payment of taxes by high earning corporates and individuals spread across four quarters. In the second quarter, corporates pay 30 per cent of their year's overall tax outgo. It is generally taken as a barometer of a company's performance for a particular period.

After two years of sub-5 per cent growth, industry watchers are keenly looking for the promised green-shoots to emerge.

Even though the first quarter growth came in at a healthy 5.7 per cent, data releases like last Friday's IIP numbers, which slipped to four-month low in July at 0.5 per cent as against 3.4 per cent in the previous month, and today's tepid growth in exports at 2.35 per cent in July, have led many to question if the momentum is sustainable. The Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan today said this is an "uneven recovery".