Saturday, February 25 2006 10:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Finance Ministry yesterday(Feb 24,2006) said indirect tax collections are likely to cross Rs 2,00,000 crore this fiscal, well above the target of Rs 1,92,215 crore.

Excise tax collection is likely to touch Rs 1,15,000 crore, while customs duty collections is expected to be Rs 64,000 crore and services tax will hopefully touch Rs 23,000 crore this fiscal, Central Board of Excise and Customs Chairman M Jayaraman said in his address at an award function here.

According to official sources, indirect taxes were up by 16.2 per cent at Rs 1,53,988 crore during April-January, 2005-06.

Excise duty collections stood at Rs 85,030 crore during the first 10 months of this fiscal, while customs duty fetched Rs 52,754 crore to the Government kitty and services tax collections were Rs 16,205 crore.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said he sincerely hoped target for indirect tax collections would be achieved this fiscal.

"I don't have doubts in my mind that you (officials of customs and excise department) will exceed the target in customs duty, the question is by how much. And you will surpass the targets in services tax, the question again is by how much," he said.

The Finance Minister said he would personally be very happy and satisfied if the excise duty target is achieved.

Excise, which was witnessing single digit growth till December, surged after a robust show in January when it grew by 20.6 per cent at Rs 10,010 crore, official sources said.

There are still over 34 days left in this fiscal, Chidambaram said exhorting officials of the excise department to work with vigour to achieve the target.