Small-town India is paying more taxes

When the the income-tax sleuths raided the house of a businessman-turned-politician in a small town in Junagadh district of Gujarat recently, they were startled at the sight of the palatial building in which he lived. Then, another raid in Unjha, a small town in Gujarat, unearthed Rs 9 crore of unaccounted wealth from an isabgol trader. “Given the amazing yields from these smaller centres, the government will actually exceed its tax collection target for the first time this year and the net direct tax collections may exceed Rs 3,00,000 crore,” says an official.

During April-August, corporate tax collections from Lucknow jumped over 140 per cent to Rs 182 crore, while Patna reported a 146 per cent jump to Rs 220 crore. Ahmedabad bought in Rs 1,249 crore to the tax kitty, a 38 per cent increase over the previous corresponding period. In personal income-tax, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Pune and Bhubaneshwar have all reported a more than 50 per cent rise in collections.

The new money centres

Delhi and Mumbai barely manage to cling onto their Top 5 positions, and may actually lose their positions to smaller centres this year.