Click to play videoNew Delhi: Reports of a slowdown in customs and excise duties collections has prompted the Finance Ministry to press the panic button on direct taxes.
Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has asked income tax officers to get aggressive on tax collection after a fall in excise and customs collections.
Ministry sources have informed Network18 that Revenue Secretary PV Bhide met Income Tax commissioners to discuss ways of increasing revenues from direct taxes.
Collections for October declined by over five per cent compared to last year. The total indirect tax collections have also fallen this year to Rs 18,664 crore from Rs 19,646 crore in 2007.
While excise tax exemptions in some states and sectors have contributed to this fall, withdrawal of import duties on some bulk products like crude oil too was a factor.
Meanwhile, there is soon good news on industrial production. The industrial production, which stood at a mere 1.4 per cent in August 2008, is back to an encouraging 4.8 per cent in September taking just a month to recover according to the Index of Industrial Production numbers.
The manufacturing and capital goods grew by 18.8 per cent against 20.9 per cent a year ago.
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