The decrease is due to the negative contribution of Rs 101.40 crore in corporation tax and Rs 77.38 crore in the interest tax which had a total positive contribution of Rs 243 crore to the May 1998 collections.

The total tax collections (direct & indirect) in May this year have increased to Rs 9,544 crore from Rs 8,455 crore in the same month last year registering a growth of about 12.87 per cent.

The total tax collection in April 1999 was Rs 7,575.85 crore with Rs 6,406.22 crore coming from indirect taxes and Rs 1,169.63 crore from direct taxes. The percentage rise in the total tax collections in May 1999 over April 1999 is 26 per cent.

The income tax collection in May 1999, however, touched the figure of Rs 989.55 crore - an increase of 19.36 per cent over the collection figure of Rs 829.04 crore in May 1998.

Expenditure tax and wealth tax havecontributed a total of Rs 23.11 crore to the May 1999 collection. The collection of corporation tax, income tax and interest tax has increased by 41.54 per cent in 1999-2000 up to May as compared to the collection in corresponding period of last year.

Progressive net collection of direct taxes in 1999-2000 up to May has registered a figure of Rs 2,003.32 crore which includes central TDS of Rs 60.28 crore in April.

Among the major contributing cities to the income tax collections in 1999-2000 up to May, Mumbai has contributed Rs 761.08 crore and Delhi Rs 445.29 crore followed by Chennai and Calcutta with the collection figures of Rs 214.55 crore and Rs 151.27 crore respectively.

It may be noted that overall indirect tax collection in May 1999 has grown to Rs 8,711 crore from Rs Rs 7,359 crore in May 1998--an increase of over 18 per cent.