Top 30 firms pay 15% more advance tax in Q4

SBI, RIL pay lower taxes while collections from LIC, private sector banks rise
Life Insurance Corporation of India and leading private sector banks such as ICICI and HDFC have paid higher advance tax in the March quarter over the same period last year, said income tax (I-T) department officials.

Overall, the advance tax paid by the 30 leading companies in the fourth quarter is 15 per cent higher, at Rs 11,441 crore, compared to last year.

Within these companies, the manufacturing sector’s tax outgo has come down, reflecting slower industrial and economic growth. Barring State Bank of India (SBI), banks have paid more.

Companies pay advance tax in four instalments. Among the companies for which data was available, Reliance Industries and the automobile majors paid lower taxes.

Tata Consultancy Services paid 10 per cent more, at Rs 600 crore. A senior

I-T official said advance tax payment in Mumbai this quarter was better than expected and they’d be able to meet the target of Rs 1.74 lakh crore.

Bajaj Auto paid a little over two per cent more. It paid Rs 300 crore against Rs 293 crore last March. Mahindra and Mahindra paid Rs 205 crore against Rs 178 crore, nearly 15 per cent more.

The boom in cement prices was reflected in tax outgo from cement major ACC, which paid 50 per cent more, shelling out Rs 227 crore against Rs 149 crore.

However, Ambuja Cement paid Rs 280 crore, only 12 per cent higher.

“The manufacturing sector has been impacted due to high interest rates and lower growth, while banks have been expanding rapidly, due to which they are performing well and, hence, have paid higher advance tax,” said N C Hegde, tax partner at Deloitte.

SBI paid Rs 1,450 crore this quarter, lower compared to the Rs 1,650 crore it paid last March. During the period, income tax paid at its foreign offices was Rs 160 crore. Advance tax paid in aggregate in Indian offices during the year was Rs 6,144 crore. With Rs 736 crore paid at its foreign offices, total tax paid during the year was Rs 6,880 crore across all its territories.

HDFC Bank paid Rs 700 crore against Rs 600 crore, while ICICI Bank has paid Rs 550 crore. Bank of America paid Rs 103 crore. Deutsche Bank paid Rs 221 crore compared to Rs 300 crore last year.

Collections from the Securities Transaction Tax so far this year has been Rs 4,700 crore, compared to Rs 5,114 crore last year. I-T officials expect another Rs 400-500 crore to come in by the end of this financial year, which is two weeks away.