Auto cos rev up in advance tax payment

t has been a strong show by the corporate sector on the advance tax front for the September 15 instalment, with total payout increasing by 14.71 per cent to Rs 44,010 crore (Rs 38,367.20 crore). 
The banking sector has clearly bucked the slowdown with healthy growth in advance tax payouts, especially the top public sector banks. SBI continues to retain its position as the leading advance taxpayer, ahead of ONGC, which paid Rs 1,796 crore advance tax for September 2009 instalment. SBI’s advance tax payout for September 15 instalment stood at Rs 1,832 crore. 

The auto pack has come back strongly in the September 15 instalment. The advance tax payout be the auto sector for the June 15 instalment was flat. For the September 15 instalment, Maruti Suzuki forked out Rs 265 crore (Rs 134 crore). Bajaj Auto paid Rs 170 crore (Rs 90 crore) as advance tax and Hero Honda Rs 137 crore (Rs 128 crore). While Tata Motors’ payout for the September 15 instalment stood at Rs 100 crore (Rs 19 crore), Mahindra & Mahindra paid advance tax of Rs 112 crore (Rs 16 crore). 

Among the new entrants, Indian Oil paid Rs 1,100 crore for the September 15 instalment. This oil marketing company did not pay any advance tax for the September 2008 instalment. Its total advance tax payout for 2008-09 was at Rs 150 crore.

While Standard Chartered Bank paid for the September 15 instalment advance tax of Rs 725 crore (Rs 640 crore), NMDC’s payout stood at Rs 600 crore (Rs 800 crore).

The corporate sector’s growth in advance tax payout of 14.71 per cent on a year-on-year basis was lower than the 61.7 per cent recorded increase in September 2008. However, the latest performance was “not bad” given that it came on a higher base of Rs 38,367 crore (September 2008), official sources said. 
The advance tax payout of the corporate sector in September 2007 stood at Rs 23,731 crore. The impact of the global financial meltdown was felt only in the second half of 2008-09, that is, post-September, after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the US.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is confident of surpassing the budget estimates for 2009-10 going by the current advance tax collection trend. “We are well on course to meet the budget estimate and may even comfortably meet the revised target of Rs 4 lakh crore as advised by the Finance Minister”, sources said.
On the personal income-tax front, advance tax collection up to September 15, 2009 stood at Rs 6,216.70 crore, 7.1 per cent lower than Rs 6,694.80 crore collected in same period last year.