"The growth in direct taxes has been maintained despite much larger refund pay-outs at Rs 11,578 crore against Rs 7,302 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal," said a finance ministry statement issued in New Delhi.

Analysts said robust tax collections are expected to help the government maintain fiscal deficit at 2.5 per cent during 2008-09 despite increase in expenditure in the election year.

During the first three months, corporate taxes have grown by 32.65 per cent and stood at Rs 34,566 crore against Rs 26,058 crore in first quarter last fiscal.

Personal income tax, including fringe benefit tax (FBT), securities transaction tax (STT)and banking cash transaction tax (BCTT) grew by 48.84 per cent and touched Rs22,782 crore as against Rs 15,306 crore a year ago.

FBT collections were up by 38.74 per cent, while STT and BCTT grew at 22.11 percent and 21.03 percent respectively, said the statement.

Upbeat over the robust tax collection, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had recently asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes to revise the Budget estimate of Rs 3,65,000 crore upwards to Rs 4,00,000 crore.

In the last fiscal, the Government had mopped up revenue of Rs 3,14,000 crore on account of collections from direct taxes.

Among the regions, direct tax collections growth in Mumbai and Delhi was 40.19 per cent and 53.57 per cent, respectively. Other regions with high tax growth are Nagpur (74.08 per cent), Kochi (68.08 per cent), Bangaluru (47.26 per cent) and Kolkata (45.30 per cent).

Notably the tax deducted/collected at source (TDS) continued to drive direct tax collection with a growth of about 50 per cent while self-assessment tax grew at 35 percent, indicating continued improvement in tax compliance and administration, it said.