BANKS, CEMENT COs DEFAULT ADVANCE TAX

The ongoing gloom on economic front has led to concerns on advance tax collections from banking and cement sectors, but information technology companies seem to be delivering well, Income tax officials said today. "There has been some impact of the poor economic climate on payouts by banking and cement sectors," an Income Tax official said here. Today was the last day of filing advance tax for the March quarter. However, I-T officials, citing an order from the Central Board of Direct Taxes, declined to provide details. State Bank of India said it has paid Rs 1,456 crore as payout for the March quarter as against Rs 1,450 crore a year ago, while new age private sector lender Yes Bank showed a 20 per cent jump at Rs 200 crore. Sources said TCS, India's largest software exporter, paid Rs 1,130 crore as against Rs 600 crore last year. sState-run oil marketeer Bharat Petroleum has reportedly showed a massive increase in its payout at Rs 705 crore as against the last year's Rs 230 crore. Bank of Baroda paid Rs 360 crore as the advance tax as against Rs 350 crore, while Bank of India witnessed a decline at Rs 500 crore from Rs 790 crore. Central Bank of India's payout may have increased marginally to Rs 158 crore from Rs 151 crore in the year ago quarter. Advance tax is a system of staggered payment of I-T dues by high net tax-payers over four quarters of a fiscal. It is generally considered as a barometer of a company's performance during a quarter. The Mumbai I-T region is chasing a 19 per cent jump in targeted tax collections at Rs 2.09 trillion as against Rs 1.56 trillion netted last year.