Mumbai: The country's largest lender State Bank of India Monday paid Rs 1,290 crore as the advance tax for the first quarter of the current fiscal, a rise of 4 percent over the same period last year.
"We have paid Rs 1,290 crore as against Rs 1,240 crore (in Q1 of last fiscal)," a bank official said, declining to be identified.
Second largest private lender HDFC Bank is likely to have paid about Rs 1,000 crore in taxes, an almost 22 percent jump from Rs 820 crore outgo year ago, sources said.
Its parent HDFC has registered a 12 percent jump in advance tax payment at Rs 465 crore, company sources said.
Fifth largest private lender Yes Bank logged a 36 percent growth in outgo at Rs 170 crore, bank sources said.
Advance tax payment is a system of staggered payments of income taxes across the year done on a quarterly basis. Typically, companies pay 15 percent of their tax liabilities in the first quarter, which goes up as the financial year progresses.
The amount of taxes paid by a company is also a barometer of its performance for the period and how it sees the year turning up. It can also serve as an evidence to establish the credentials of the economy, especially in times when there are question marks over recovery.
Officials from the Income Tax department in Mumbai, which contributes over a third of the direct tax collections nationwide, were tight-lipped on the payments by corporates so far.
