I-T refunds in H2 to be up by ₹50,000 cr

FY24 figure set to cross ₹3.5-trillion mark

- PRIYANSH VERMA

GROWTH IN PERSONAL income tax (PIT) collections may slow a bit in the second half of the current financial year from the impressive 31% seen in the first, as the income tax (I-T) department aims to make tax refunds to the tune of 2 trillion in the remainder of the year, an official source told FE. "The second-half refunds are likely to be higher than in the year ago period by around ₹50,000 crore. This would mean that the refunds in the whole of FY24 would be above ₹3.5 trillion, as against a little over ₹3 trillion last year," the source said.

The higher refunds would bring down the growth in gross PIT collections (receipts after refunds but before the mandatory transfers to the states) for FY24 to 17-18%, still significantly higher than the Budget Estimate (BE) of 11.4%. This would mean that the PIT mop-up in the year would be about ₹9.5 trillion, against the BE of ₹9.01 trillion.

In April-September this year, PIT collections after refunds stood at ₹4.52 trillion, accounting for about 50% of BE FY24. In the first half of last fiscal, 43% of the annual target was met.