ADVANCE TAX
RECEIPTS POINT TO
STRONG RECOVERY
BS REPORTER
Mumbai, 15 June
dvance tax collec-
A tions for the first
quarter of the cur-
rent financial year
point to a strong
growth in corporate sector prof-
its. However, banks and fi-
nancial services companies that
are usually the largest con-
tributors to the advance tax kit-
ty disappointed with lower-than-
expected numbers.
The country’s largest lender,
State Bank of India, saw its ad-
vance tax payment declining
to Rs 869 crore, compared to
Rs 1,068 crore for the quarter
ended March 31, 2009.
Advance tax payment of the
country’s second-largest lender,
ICICI Bank, was flat at Rs 350
crore.
HDFC Bank, the second
largest private sector lender,
however, was a notable ex-
ception. Its advance tax pay-
ment rose by 26 per cent to
Rs 315 crore from Rs 250 crore
in the corresponding quarter a
year ago.
Today was the last day for
making advance tax payments.
The government proposes
to collect Rs 3.01 lakh crore as
corporate tax in 2010-11, up
from Rs 2.5 lakh crore in the
previous financial year.
Advance tax numbers are
seen as an indicator of corporate
sector profits. Payments in the
WELL BEGUN
Advance tax payments by top companies in the first quarter
SBI
ICICI Bank
BoB
IDBI Bank
’10-’11 ’09-’10
1,068 860-870 Suzlon
350
210
350 Coca Cola
225 Bharat Forge
80 Hindalco
HDFC 175 215 Grasim
HSBC 225 225 (Including Samruddhi Cements)
BNP 35 24 Infosys
Bank of America 60 45
first quarter are usually lower
than that in subsequent quarters.
The tax paid by Bajaj Auto,
the country’s second-largest
motorcycle maker, for the June
quarter, was more than double
that a year ago, while the pay-
ment by refiner Hindustan Pe-
troleum quadrupled.
Media giant Bennett, Cole-
man & Co Ltd paid Rs 55 crore,
compared to Rs 30 crore a year
ago, hinting at a revival in the
fortunes of media companies.
However, fast-moving con-
sumer goods major Hindustan
Unilever paid Rs 75 crore in tax
during the quarter — no change
from its payment last year.
The tax payments are in line
with the industrial production,
which jumped by 17.6 per cent
in April, from 1.1 per cent in the
same period a year ago. The
growth in the country’s gross
domestic product during the
35
15
4
’10-’11 ’09-’10
70-75
Nil
19
11
64 100-110
230 275
(Figures in Rs crore)
current financial year is esti-
mated to be 8.5 per cent, com-
pared with 7.4 per cent in 2009-
10. In addition, indirect taxes,
which include customs, excise
and service tax, went up by 49
per cent to about Rs 35,000 crore
during April-May 2010-11.
In the previous quarter, ad-
vance tax collections from the
top 100 companies in the Mum-
bai region grew just 3.63 per
cent, compared to 24 per cent
in the corresponding period
last year.
The lower-than-expected
growth in the last and crucial
quarter was on account of a
higher base and abolition of the
fringe benefit tax.
Infosys Technologies, the
country’s second-largest soft-
ware company, reported an ad-
vance tax payment of Rs 275
crore, compared to Rs 230 crore
in the previous year.