Double-digit increase in tax collection: Jaitley

New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS) The currency squeeze in November and December has failed to hit revenue mop up, with direct and indirect tax collection from April to December showing a double-digit increase, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday.

"Since there has been a considerable debate as to the impact of currency squeeze in November and December, the revenue data becomes relevant. The direct tax collections for April-December period have increased 12.01 per cent year-on-year," Jaitley told the media here.

The net direct tax collections were at Rs 5.53 lakh crore, which is 65.3 per cent of the total Budget estimate for 2016-17, Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Refunds amounting to Rs 1,26,371 crore have been issued during April-December, which is 30.5 per cent higher than the refunds issued during the corresponding period last year, it added.

Jaitley said that the indirect tax data for April-December (2016), compared to the same figure (in 2015), has seen an overall increase of 25 per cent.

The figures for indirect tax collections up to December 2016 show that net revenue collections are at Rs 6.30 lakh crore, which is about 81 per cent of the Budget Estimates for 2016-17, Finance Ministry stated.

"Individually, the central excise has shown a 43 per cent increase, service tax 23.9 per cent increase and customs duty has increased by 4.1 per cent," Jaitley added.

Direct and indirect taxes for the first three quarters of current fiscal has moved up significantly, he said.

Jaitley said the demonetised notes had no role to play in the tax collections for December as people were allowed to pay taxes in the spiked currency only in November.

"In December, payment of taxes in old notes was not allowed."

Jaitley said over 99 per cent central taxes were paid by digital mode.

As compared to December 2015, the customs declined by 6.3 per cent in this December because gold imports during the period crashed, he added.

"However, central excise, related to manufacturing, has increased by 31.6 per cent in December when compared to the same month last fiscal. Service tax during the month increased 12.4 per cent."