Net direct tax receipts up 23.4%

India’s net direct tax collections had grown 23.4% to hit ₹10.64 lakh crore by November 30, attaining 58.34% of the Budget estimates for the year, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday.

India’s net direct tax collections had grown 23.4% to hit ₹10.64 lakh crore by November 30, attaining 58.34% of the Budget estimates for the year, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday.

The gross direct tax kitty by the end of last month had reached ₹12.67 lakh crore, reflecting a 17.7% rise over the same period of last year. Refunds paid out to income tax payers had reached ₹2.03 lakh crore, indicating that ₹26,000 crore of tax refunds were remitted between November 10 and November 30.

As of November 9, the gross direct tax collections stood at ₹12.37 lakh crore, while net collections were ₹10.6 lakh crore, 21.82% over last year. This suggests that while gross tax receipts rose ₹30,000 crore over the rest of November, the net kitty grew by ₹4,000 crore.

About 7.76 crore Income Tax returns had been filed for the current assessment year by November 30, of which about 7.43 crore returns had been processed with refunds initiated for 3.26 crore returns. The average processing time for returns had reduced to 10 days this year from 16 days in 2022-23, the ministry said. About 23% of returns were processed within 24 hours and 43% were processed within a week.