Aided by strong show on the customs duty front, the Centre's indirect tax collections recorded a robust 33.15 per cent increase in October 2010 to Rs 29,574 crore (Rs 22,211 crore). This collection performance was higher than the indirect tax collections of Rs 26,476 crore in September this year.

The Centre's customs duty collections grew 61.36 per cent in October to Rs 12,120 crore (Rs 7,511 crore) on the back of increased imports. Introduction of import duties on crude oil in this year's budget has also helped bolster customs duty collections. In April-October period, the Centre's customs duty collections recorded 65.9 per cent increase to Rs 75,349 crore (Rs 45,418 crore).

On the excise duty front, the collections in October grew 14.47 per cent to Rs 10,244 crore (Rs 8949 crore).

In the first seven months of the current fiscal, excise duty collections grew 36.2 per cent to Rs 71,078 crore (Rs 52,186 crore). This represents about 54 per cent of the budget target of Rs 1.32 lakh crore for 2010-11.

The Centre's service tax collections in October registered a 25.37 per cent increase to Rs 7,210 crore (Rs 5,751 crore). During April-October , the service tax collections registered 16.9 per cent increase to Rs 33,833 crore (Rs 28,942 crore), an official release said.

On an overall basis, the Centre's indirect tax collections recorded 42.4 per cent increase in April-October to Rs 1,80,261 crore. This represents 57.5 per cent of the budget estimate of Rs 3.15 lakh crore for 2010-11.