Indirect tax receipts up 11.5% in first quarter

India's indirect tax receipts grew 11.5% during the April-June period from a year earlier to Rs 54341 crore , the finance ministry said in a statement on Monday. An analyst said that moderation in factory output and duty cuts in the budget led to sluggish excise receipts growth while customs collections were boosted by higher imports especially that of crude oil. Receipts from excise duty, levied at the factory gate, were up 2.8% at Rs 25882 crore in the first three months of the 2008-09 fiscal years, the statement said. In June, collections from excise duties grew by 5.9% to Rs 9889 crore, it said. "Industry has not done so well in the last few months. There were duty cuts in the budget on many items. This is showing up in the excise collections," said D.K Joshi, principal economist of rating agency Crisil. Government data showed that last week India's industrial output expanded by 3.8% in May, its slowest pace in six years, as monetary tightening by the central bank in the last two years crimped demand in Asia's third largest economy. Customs duty receipts however rose 20.9% to Rs 28459 crore in the June quarter, reflecting a robust growth in imports. Earlier this month, government data showed India's imports were up 31.7% in the April-May period from a year earlier. "High global oil prices and higher imports of other items contributed to a robust customs collections," said Crisil's Joshi. "The overall tax collections will be on target this fiscal," Joshi said. – www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com