New Delhi: India's service tax revenue is estimated to be flat at Rs.65,000 crore ($13.4 billion) this fiscal, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Monday while presenting the budget for 2009-10 in the Lok Sabha

The revised estimates of the service tax revenue for 2008-09 stands at Rs.65,000, while the government earned Rs.51,301 crore from the tax in 2007-08. While Mukherjee brought the law firms/lawyers offering advice to non-individuals under the service tax net, relief has been provided to exporters. The tax was first introduced in 1994-95 by the then finance minister Manmohan Singh on three services - telephone, general insurance and stock broking. Over the years, not only the tax ambit, but also the tax also went up, helping the government fetch handsome revenues.