Indirect tax collections went up by 42.8 per cent to Rs 2,37,192 crore in April-December period this financial year, against Rs 1,66,133 crore in the corresponding months of 2009-10. The collections in the first nine months of 2010-11 are about 75.7 per cent of the Budget estimate of Rs 3,13,471 crore.

Customs collections covered 86.8 per cent of total Budget estimates, while receipts of central excise and service tax the other two components of the indirect tax structure achieved 71.5 per cent and 64.8 per cent of Budget estimates, respectively, for the current financial year, the finance ministry said in a statement released to the media today.

The largest chunk of the revenue collections came from Customs duty mop-up, which increased 68.1 per cent to Rs 99,830 crore in the nine months, against Rs 59,402 crore in the year-ago period. Last year, when the economy was not doing well due to the global economic meltdown, collections of Custom duty were the worst hit and even pulled down the overall revenue collections.

Collections from excise rose to Rs 93,281 crore in April-December 2010-11, 33.7 per cent higher than the revenue of Rs 69,747 crore last year.

Revenue collections from service tax stood at Rs 44,081 crore, an increase of 19.2 per cent from Rs 36,984 crore in the corresponding months in 2009-10.

The increase in collections is an indicator of the economic activity picking up. The economy registered a GDP growth rate of 8.9 per cent in the first two quarters of the current financial year.

In 2009-10, the total tax-mop up fell short of the target of Rs 6,41,000 crore. The government is expecting the tax collection target of Rs 7,46,000 crore to exceed this year. The finance ministry is expecting to overshoot its indirect tax collection target by Rs 10,000-15,000 crore.

The growth may be led by a robust increase seen in excise and Customs collections, which are likely to exceed the Budgeted target of Rs 1,30,471 crore and Rs 1,15,000 crore respectively. Service tax collections, on the other hand, may just meet the target of Rs 68,000 crore.

Direct tax collections in April-December 2010-11 increased 19.47 per cent to touch Rs 2,98,958 crore, compared with Rs 2,50,232 crore in the corresponding period last year.