Net direct tax collection in the eight months of the current financial year touched 58.34 per cent of Budget Estimates (BE) at Rs 10.64 lakh crore. 

Net tax collection for April-November stood at Rs 10.64 lakh crore, which is 23.4 per cent higher than the corresponding period of last year, the Ministry of Finance has said.

Gross collections, before issuing refunds, grew by 17.7 per cent to Rs 12.67 lakh crore in the April-November period. 

Refunds amounting to Rs 2.03 lakh crore issued from April to November of the current financial year. 

Special initiative was taken for cases where refunds had failed initially and subsequently issued to validated bank accounts, the ministry has said. 

In the current financial year, Rs 18.23 lakh crore is expected to be collected in direct taxes (Personal Income Tax and Corporate Tax), and Rs 15.38 lakh crore from indirect taxes (GST, Customs and Excise Duties). 

Earlier this week, a senior finance ministry official had said that the government was likely to stick to the budgeted estimate of a total tax collection target of Rs 33.61 lakh crore for the current financial year in the revised estimates. 

So far, direct tax collection is up by about 20 per cent and indirect tax is higher by 5 per cent.