FM hopeful of meeting indirect tax collection target in fiscal 2012

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Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday expressed hope that indirect tax collection target of Rs 3.92 lakh crore for the current fiscal will be met despite the economic slowdown.

"I am confident that the department (Central Board of Excise and Customs) would not spare any effort in meeting the target. In fact, already indications are there (of meeting budget estimate)," Mukherjee said while speaking at a ceremony to hand over Presidential Awards to the officers of Customs and Central Excise here.

He said that despite challenges on the fiscal front, indirect tax collections have been good this fiscal so far.

"As we approach the end of current fiscal year, there are certain fiscal challenges that have to be addressed. The indirect tax collection figure up to January 2012 indicates that there has been some gains over the last year," Mukherjee said.

The government has fixed a target of Rs 3.92 lakh crore for indirect tax collection during 2011-12.

Till January this fiscal, total collection of indirect taxes was Rs 3.17 lakh crore against Rs 2.75 lakh crore in the April-January period of last fiscal.

As per Advanced Estimates, the economy is expected to grow at 6.9 per cent in the current fiscal, lower from 8.4 per cent in the previous year.

Despite this, in the first 10 month period of this fiscal, the CBEC has been able to achieve nearly 81 per cent of Budget estimate for the current fiscal year.