INDIA LIKELY TO MEET FY08 REVISED TAX TARGET

India is likely to meet a revised tax collection target of 5.83 trillion rupees for 2007/08 going by current trends, a junior finance minister said on Friday.S.S. Palanimanickam said in a written reply to parliament that direct tax receipts during April-February were at 2.33 trillion rupees.Corporate tax receipts at 1.39 trillion rupees while income tax were at 931.12 billion rupees until February, he said.Receipts from indirect taxes -- excise, customs and service tax -- until January were at 2.21 trillion rupees."The revenue collection from direct and indirect tax during the current financial year 2007/08 has not yet exceeded the target," the minister said."With the current trend of growth in revenue collection, however, the budget estimate will be exceeded and the revised estimate is likely to be achieved."Direct tax collections were up 41 percent until February from a year earlier as companies posted robust profits and salaries of individuals rose during the year. Companies are due to pay their advance taxes in March 15.The government collects a bulk of its revenues in the last quarter ending March every year.In his budget, the finance minister revised upwards the direct tax target to 3.05 trillion rupees from an earlier estimate of 2.67 trillion rupees for 2007/08 while indirect tax target was kept almost at the same level of 2.78 trillion rupees.Meeting revised tax targets is crucial for a cash-strapped federal government to fund its extra spending of 430.6 billion rupees for 2007/08. – www.reuters.com