Central government's Securities Transaction Tax collection between April 1 and June 17 surged sharply by 44.9% year-on-year to ₹18,856 crore compared with ₹13,013 crore in the corresponding period last year. According to the latest provisional data released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), this surge comes as India recorded an industry-wide daily premium turnover of ₹96,916 crore in May, marginally lower than the ₹97,637 crore seen in April. The ADFTO in the futures segment stood at ₹1.58 lakh crore last month, indicating continued active trading activity.
Net direct tax collections rose 14.64% to ₹5.21 lakh crore as strong growth in non-corporate taxes and advance tax payments offset modest growth in corporate tax receipts. As reported by Business Standard, gross collections grew 12.46% to ₹6.10 lakh crore from ₹5.42 lakh crore collected in the corresponding period of FY26, while refunds increased marginally by 1.19% to ₹89,026 crore during the period. Corporate tax collections increased to ₹2.76 lakh crore from ₹2.48 lakh crore during the same period last year, while non-corporate tax collections climbed to ₹3.15 lakh crore from ₹2.81 lakh crore during the same period. Advance tax collection was up 15.3% year-on-year to ₹1.79 lakh crore as on June 17 from ₹1.55 lakh crore in FY26.
Corporate advance tax collections grew 16.01% to ₹1.41 lakh crore, while non-corporate advance tax payments increased 12.73% to ₹37,620 crore. According to Business Standard, Rohinton Sidhwa, Partner at Deloitte India, noted that "overall it appears that tax collections have shrugged off the degrowth caused by the previous years rate cut and once again resumed the growth path. The data also shows strong advance tax growth from companies indicating the corporate sector is doing well." He added that while these are early indicators of the trends sustains it would help keep the Government on its track of maintaining the fiscal deficit target.
For FY27, the government has set a direct tax collection target of ₹26.97 lakh crore, up 15% from the ₹23.40 lakh crore realised in FY26. As reported by Business Standard, Jayesh Sanghvi, Tax Partner at EY India, said the direct tax collection data reveals a strong opening to FY 2026-27. "The Advance Tax growth indicates a reversal trend from the tepid growth of corresponding period last year on both corporate and non-corporate. This is a forward indicator of potential business confidence. Interestingly, the STT growth stands out indicating continued heightened market activity following from buoyant corporate results for FY 2025-26." Despite global headwinds from geopolitics and west-asia disruptions, the strong tax collection performance demonstrates resilience in India's tax base.
