Tax concessions may cost India Rs 6 lakh crore this year

The total tax concessions in direct taxes in the form of exemptions or deductions are expected to grow by 8.4% to Rs 1.28 lakh crore from 1.18 lakh crore in 2014-15.

The total impact of tax incentives due to concessions or exemptions in the form of direct and indirect taxes is estimated to rise to Rs 6.11 lakh crore from Rs 5.54 lakh crore in 2014-15.

Corporate income tax concessions is projected to increase by 5.6% to Rs 68,711 crore in 2015-16 from Rs 65,067 crore in 2014-15. While personal income tax is expected to increase by 11.9% to Rs 59,928 crore in 2015-16 from Rs 53,526 crore in 2014-15.

The various tax concessions in the form of exemptions or deductions have been provided under the Income-tax Act, 1961 which have been availed by different sectors of Commerce and Industry also.

“No sector wise details of industry are however maintained and section wise details of revenue impact of direct tax incentives is presented before Parliament with Budget in the form of document titled, 'Statement of Revenue Impact of Tax Incentives under the Central Tax System',” said Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State (MoS), Finance Ministry.

The total indirect tax concessions in India, which includes custom duty and excise duty, is estimated to increase by 10.7% in 2015-16 to Rs 4.82 lakh crore from Rs 4.35 lakh crore in 2014-15.

Customs duty concessions is expected to increase to Rs 2.57 lakh crore in 2015-16 from Rs 2.38 lakh crore last year, a 7.7% growth. While excise duty concessions are expected to grow by 14.3% to Rs 2.24 lakh crore from Rs 1.96 lakh crore in 2014-15.

“Customs and central excise duty exemptions are extended to goods in general, considering inter alia the public interest. The revenue impact of tax incentives on account of exemptions or concessions from customs and excise duty for last five financial years is as under,” said Gangwar.

He further added, “Tax concessions are provided as a part of overall fiscal incentives provided by the government to realise macroeconomic objectives and achieve policy goals of development and growth of various sectors of economy. No such quantitative exercise for the outcome of reliefs provided to industry and commerce sectors is done.”