Direct tax collections have surged 182 per cent to over Rs 19.60 lakh crore in 2023-24 in the 10-year period of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government. The latest ‘Time Series Data’ released by the income tax department showed that the corporate tax collections more than doubled to over Rs 9.11 lakh crore in 10 years to 2023-24 fiscal. Personal income tax mop up grew close to four-fold to Rs 10.45 lakh crore during the period.
In the first year of the Modi government in 2014-15, direct tax collection was about Rs 6.96 lakh crore. This included about Rs 4.29 lakh crore of corporate tax and Rs 2.66 lakh crore of personal income tax. The number of income tax returns filed (including revised returns) increased from over 4.04 crore in 2014-15 fiscal to over 8.61 crore in 2023-24.
Direct tax-to-GDP ratio increased from 5.55 per cent in 2014-15 to 6.64 per cent in 2023-24. Tax buoyancy, which measures revenue mobilisation efficiency with respect to GDP growth, increased from 0.86 to 2.12 in the 10-year period. The number of taxpayers increased from 5.70 crore in Assessment Year (AY) 2014-15 to 10.41 crore in 2023-24 AY.