The Centre's revenue from Securities Transaction Tax has exceeded its budget projection for the current financial year driven by high trade volumes, volatility and increased derivative trading during the financial year.
According to the Income Tax Department provisional data, between April 1, 2024, and Jan. 12, 2025, STT collection stood at Rs 44,538 crore as against the budget estimate of Rs 37,000 crore.
In fiscal 2024, the budget projection was also surpassed, leading to a revision in the estimates to Rs 32,000 crore.
Meanwhile, increased STT rates on futures and options of securities to 0.02% and 0.1% respectively in the July Budget has further boosted the collection.
The STT budgeted target may see an upward revision for the current fiscal and a higher target for the next fiscal year in the upcoming budget, sources told NDTV Profit.
“STT has been the significant contributor in the overall direct tax kitty of the government," a source aware of the development said. He added that overall direct tax collection may too see upward revision in the budget estimates for the current fiscal year.
Implemented in 2004, STT was introduced to combat tax evasion on capital gains.
The net direct tax collection grew 15.88% to about Rs 16.90 lakh crore this fiscal year. Of these, net non-corporate taxes, which include mainly personal income tax, stood at over Rs 8.74 lakh crore.
The net corporate tax collection between April 1, 2024, and Jan. 12, 2025, was around Rs 7.68 lakh crore.
Refunds worth over Rs 3.74 lakh crore were issued during the period, a 42.49% increase over the year-ago period.
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