Customs duty collections up 32.8% to Rs 18,116 crore in September

Cus­toms duty col­lec­tion of India grew by 32.8% to Rs 18,116 crore in Sep­tem­ber 2014, indi­cat­ing that domes­tic econ­o­my and invest­ment cycle may have turned with increased non-oil imports con­tribut­ing to the rise in col­lec­tions. How­ev­er, 0.4% decrease in excise col­lec­tions to Rs 14,288 crore indi­cates that man­u­fac­tur­ing remains slug­gish. The Naren­dra Modi new ini­tia­tive ‘Make in India’ may help in boost­ing man­u­fac­tur­ing sec­tor. Ser­vice tax col­lec­tions in August increased 5.8% to Rs 15,608 crore against Rs 14,755 crore last year.

Over­all indi­rect tax col­lec­tions increased 5.8% in the first half of the cur­rent finan­cial year. The finance min­istry is hope­ful of a pick-up in col­lec­tions in the sec­ond half as eco­nom­ic recov­ery strengthens.

The growth in indi­rect tax­es is much less than 25% envis­aged in the Bud­get for 2014–15, but the pace is accel­er­at­ing. Over­all indi­rect tax col­lec­tions grew 12.3% in Sep­tem­ber, to Rs 48,012 crore. The gov­ern­ment has fixed a tar­get of Rs 6.24 lakh crore for indi­rect tax col­lec­tions in 2014–15.