CBEC credits ‘exemplary zeal’ of officers for exceeding tax target

The “unwavering commitment and exemplary zeal” shown by its officers has seen CBEC surpassing its indirect tax collection target by a handsome margin of Rs 4,000 crore to reach Rs 5.46-lakh crore in the just-concluded 2014-15 fiscal.

“I am extremely happy to inform that the efforts have yielded positive results and we have been able to not only achieve the revised estimates allocated to the department for financial year 2014-15, but to even surpass the same,” said Kaushal Srivastava, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairperson.

“This has been possible only due to unwavering commitment and exemplary zeal shown by you and the officers and staff of your zone or directorate for achieving the targets,” he added in a letter to all Chief Commissioners and Directors General working under him. According to the Finance Ministry, the total collection of indirect taxes -- comprising customs, service tax and excise duty -- as on March 31, 2015, is Rs 5,46,479 crore, based on the provisional report, as against revised estimates of Rs 5,42,325 crore for 2014-15.

The provisional collections for 2014-15 increased by 9.9 per cent over the actual collections in 2013-14, which was Rs 4,97,061 crore, the ministry said in a statement.

“This (revised estimates of indirect taxes) appeared quite an onerous task considering the trend of recovery during the first nine months of the financial year and the slower growth of manufacturing and services sector in the country,” Srivastava said.

But CBEC accepted this “daunting challenge” with full vigour and enthusiasm and undertook a number of measures to augment and mobilise additional revenue in a focused manner, Srivastava said. The budget estimate for indirect tax collection during 2014-15 was Rs 6,23,244 crore.