The advance tax payment, seen as an indicator of corporate profitability, increased by 15.3% to ₹1.78 lakh crore as compared to the same period last fiscal.
Corporate advance tax rose 16.01% to ₹1.41 lakh crore, indicating steady earnings momentum and resilient profitability in companies.
Experts say the latest numbers suggest robust corporate earnings in first quarter.
“This is a positive and confident start to the FY27 despite global headwinds from geopolitics and West Aasia disruptions,” said Jayesh Sanghvi, tax partner, EY India. “This is a forward indicator of potential business confidence.”
Non-corporate advance tax increased 12.73% to ₹37,620 crore, reflecting stable income growth among individuals, firms and other assessees.
“Overall, tax collections appear to have shrugged off the degrowth caused by the previous year’s personal income-tax rate cut and once again resumed the growth path,” Rohinton Sidhwa, partner, Deloitte India, said
He added that strong advance tax growth from companies indicates the corporate sector is doing well.
“If the trend sustains it would help keep the government on track of maintaining the fiscal deficit target,” Sidhwa added.
Net non-corporate tax continued to lead the collections at ₹2.93 lakh crore, while net corporate tax was ₹2.08 lakh crore, up 22.5%.
Even security transaction tax was up 45% to ₹18,856 crore, indicating continued heightened market activity. Gross direct tax collections, before refunds rose 12.46% year-on-year to ₹6.10 lakh crore
The refunds grew a modest 1.19% to ₹87,979 crore.