Banking, financial services and insurance sector led by insurance giant lIC has reported a healthy rise in advance tax outgoes for the first quarter of 2013-14, I-T department sources said on Friday.
life Insurance Corporation of India’s advance tax outgo went up to Rs 679 crore from the year ago’s Rs 638 crore, while that of largest private sector lender ICICI Bank moved up to Rs 600 crore from Rs 500 crore, sources said. Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation paid Rs 611 crore against Rs 440 crore last year.
State Bank of India and Reliance Industries, two of the biggest tax payers in the financial capital, are yet to pay the first installment of the annual tax outgo, sources said, pointing out that Saturday is the last day for the payment. Advance tax payments is a system of periodic payment of taxes in order to avoid lumpy outgoes in the final quarter. It is generally considered as a barometer of company’s performance. Corporates typically pay 15 -18 per cent of their tax liability in the June quarter.
When asked for the overall picture, a senior official said it is difficult to analyse the trend as the payments of many corporates were yet to come. “Overall, they seem to be OK,” he said. Mumbai Income tax department contributes a bulk of the overall tax collections in the country. It has set a target of Rs 2,07,545 crore for FY14 against the Rs 1,75,000 crore it collected last fiscal.
HDFC Bank paid Rs 685 crore as compared to Rs 500 crore year ago, while its parent, HDFC, paid Rs 360 crore against the year ago period’s Rs 300 crore. Among the state-run lenders, Bank of Baroda paid Rs 325 crore, up from last year’s Rs 315 crore, while Central Bank of India’s outgo jumped to Rs 167 crore from v140 crore.
Kotak Mahindra Bank paid Rs 112 crore as against Rs 75 crore while its private sector competitor Yes Bank paid Rs 104 crore, up from Rs 75 crore, department sources said. Among the foreign lenders, Standard Chartered paid Rs 300 crore against Rs 270 crore in the year-ago period while HSBC paid Rs 276 crore versus Rs 250 crore.
Auto players, who have been having difficulty maintaining sales growths, also posted a jump in advance tax outgo, with Bajaj Auto leading the pack with a payment of Rs 160 crore as against the year ago’s Rs 150 crore, while Mahindra and Mahindra paid Rs 120 crore versus Rs 90 crore.
Tata Steel’s outgo remained flat at Rs 270 crore, sources said, adding that pharma player lupin has shown a doubling of outgo at Rs 78.3 crore against Rs 38 crore last year. Helped by a cutting of under-recoveries courtesy the fuel price hikes, Bharat Petroleum paid Rs 103 crore against Rs 68 crore last year.