*Financial sector bucks slowdown, pays more tax * **
** ** *SBI beats ONGC to the top slot in June 15 instalment. * *K.R.Srivats * New Delhi, June 17 State Bank of India (SBI) has dislodged ONGC to become the leading advance taxpayer in the country. Banks have clearly bucked the downturn and paid more advance tax in the June 15 instalment on the back of buoyant credit growth in the economy and treasury gains. The advance tax payments made to the Income Tax Department are important as they gives an indication of the profit expectations of the corporate sector for the entire financial year. For the June 15 instalment, which is the first for fiscal 2009-10, the country’s largest commercial bank paid an advance tax of Rs 1,068 crore, representing a 61.09 per cent increase over the Rs 663 crore paid for the same instalment last year. Going by this trend, SBI is expected to emerge the largest advance taxpayer in 2009-10, surpassing ONGC, sources in the Revenue Department said. Auto sector flat On a sectoral basis, the advance tax payout of the auto sector for the June 15 instalment has been flat. While Maruti Udyog paid Rs 92 crore (Rs 95 crore), Tata Motors paid Rs 30 crore (Rs 30 crore), and Bajaj Auto Rs 50 crore (Rs 50 crore). However, the FMCG biggies — Hindustan Unilever (Rs 75 crore as against Rs 60 crore) and ITC (Rs 220 crore as against Rs 179 crore) — made higher payouts. On the telecom front, BSNL paid Rs 135 crore, much lower than the Rs 312 crore paid last June. Bharti Airtel forked out Rs 100 crore (Rs 72 crore). Petroleum product majors Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and HPCL have this time round paid advance tax. Last year, these two companies did not make any payment for the June 15 instalment. While IOC paid an advance tax of Rs 130 crore, HPCL’s payout was Rs 15 crore. The steel majors SAIL and Tata Steel paid lower advance tax for the June 15 instalment on a year-on-year basis. Positive indicator For the corporate sector as a whole, the total advance tax payout for the June 15 instalment was about Rs 23,000 crore, official sources noted. “The growth in the June 15 instalment this fiscal has been slightly positive compared with the advance tax payout of Rs 22,800 crore for the June 15 instalment in 2008-09,” the sources said. The good show in advance tax collections is a pointer that corporate profits would remain buoyant this fiscal despite the adverse impact of global economic slowdown on the Indian economy, say analysts and tax experts. In 2008-09, the total advance tax paid by the corporate sector stood at Rs 1,32,285 crore, marginally lower than advance tax payout of Rs 1,34,125 crore in 2007-08. Corporates are required to pay 90 per cent of their estimated tax liability for the entire financial year by March 15 of a fiscal year. In 2008-09, the advance tax paid by corporates accounted for about 54 per cent of the gross corporate tax collections of Rs 2,45,855 crore. Net corporate tax collections in 2008-09 stood at Rs 2,15,007 crore. Currently, corporate tax is remitted to the revenue department through four modes—advance tax, tax deducted at source, self-assessment tax and regular assessment. Besides advance tax, the other major chunk of corporate tax collections come through Tax Deducted at Source (TDS). In 2008-09, tax revenues through TDS for corporate tax stood at Rs 61,684 crore, accounting for 25 per cent of the gross corporate tax collections. Meanhile, private sector presence in the top 10 advance taxpayers’ league has dwindled. Tata Steel does not figure in the top ten advance taxpayers for the June 15 instalment. The only two private sector players in the league are Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank. Tata Steel has forked out advance tax of Rs 230 crore (Rs 356 crore). The three private sector players who made it to the top ten advance taxpayers’ league for the June 15 instalment last year were ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and Tata Steel http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/06/18/stories/2009061852280100.htm --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
