Direct Tax Collections Reach Rs 22.80 Lakh Crore as of March 17, Up 7.2% Year-on-Year

Central Government Direct Tax Collections Up 7.2% YoY

As of March 17, Rs 22.80 lakh crore in net direct tax collections have been recorded by the Income Tax Department for the period from April 1 to March 17 of FY26. This represents a 7.2% increase year-over-year compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

Net Corporate Tax Collections stood at Rs 10.91 lakh crore, a 12.75% increase year-over-year. Net Non-Corporate Tax Collections, which includes personal income tax, stood at Rs 11.32 lakh crore, a 2.7% increase year-over-year.

Securities Transaction Tax (STT) collections for the current fiscal year till March 17 amounted to Rs 55,717 crore, a 4.9% increase compared to the corresponding period in the previous fiscal year.

Read also: Treasury Yields Experience Largest Increase in Two Weeks Following Release of Labor Market Data

The gross direct tax mop-up stood at Rs 27.14 lakh crore, a 4.86% increase year-over-year.

Refunds for the period from April 1, 2025 - March 17, 2026, totaled Rs 4.34 lakh crore, a 5.86% decrease compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year. The decline in refunds is attributed to structural and procedural factors, including changes in return-filing behavior and increased use of pre-filled data.

Key indicators of the year-end collection numbers include:

• Corporate tax growth driven primarily by corporate tax, up 12.75% year-over-year
• Continued contraction in refunds due to automated scrutiny designed to reduce fraudulent claims
• Positive growth in corporate advance taxes indicating higher earnings on the back of economic growth
• Non-corporate taxes still reeling from the rate cut provided to individual taxpayers last year

Read also: US-Iran Tensions Spark Uptick in Oil Prices Amid Global Market Decline