The highest advance tax payers in India

Advance tax pay-up by India Inc presents a rosy picture, despite a massive fall in April IIP numbers and a likely fall in the remaining months of Q1; with the largest lender SBI leading the pack with Rs 1,100 crore (Rs 11 billion) against Rs 850 crore (Rs 8.50 billion) in the year-ago period.

Income Tax department sources said on Wednesday that oil and gas major RIL has paid Rs 900 crore (Rs 9 billion) in the first quarter of this fiscal, up nearly 50 per cent from Rs 650 crore (Rs 6.50 billion) in the same quarter previous fiscal.

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Companies from across the sectors paid up more in advance tax this quarter than the year-ago period, except cement companies which had a poor showing.

The third in the list is the insurance giant LIC, which made an advance tax payment of Rs 580 crore (Rs 5.80 billion) in the first quarter of this fiscal, against Rs 530 crore (Rs 5.30 billion) last fiscal.

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Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest software exporter, saw its tax bill nearly doubling to Rs 240 crore (Rs 2.40 billion) in the reporting period from Rs 128 crore (Rs 1.28 billion) in the year-ago quarter.

The fourth in the list is the state-run Deposit Insurance & Credit Guarantee Corporation which saw an outgo of Rs 475 crore (Rs 4.75 billion) against Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) last time.

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Banks too, barring a few state-run ones, have paid up more. Leading foreign bank Citi saw its advance tax outgo jumping 50 per cent to Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.50 billion) from Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion), state-run IDBI Bank saw  the tax bill soaring over 125 per cent to Rs 180 crore (Rs 1.80 billion) against Rs 81 crore (Rs 810 million) in Q1 last year.

The second largest foreign bank, HSBC, too paid up more, with a tax outgo of Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.50 billion) against Rs 225 crore (Rs 2.25 billion).

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State-run lenders like Bank of India paid Rs 165 crore (Rs 1.65 billion) as against Rs 158 crore (Rs 1.58 billion) in Q1 last year; Bank of Baroda paid Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.50 billion) versus Rs 225 crore (Rs 2.25 billion) earlier; Dena Bank paid around Rs 55 crore (Rs 550 million) as against Rs 45 crore (Rs 450 million) in Q1 last year, while Central Bank of India saw its advance tax payout declining to Rs 145 crore (Rs 1.45 billion) as against Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.50 billion) in the same quarter previous year.

All the private sector lenders have paid up more in taxes this time. While the largest private sector lender ICICI Bank paid Rs 390 crore (Rs 3.90 billion) as against Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.50 billion) in the first quarter of the previous year, the immediate competition HDFC Bank coughed up Rs 350 crore (Rs 3.50 billion) up from Rs 315 crore (Rs 3.15 billion) that it paid in Q1 last year.

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Kotak Mahindra Bank's advance tax outgo stood at Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) up from Rs 45 crore (Rs 450 million), and Yes Bank paid Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 billion) as against Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million).

Pure-play mortgage lender HDFC saw its tax bill rising to Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.50 billion) from Rs 215 crore (Rs 2.15 billion) in the reporting period, and so did LIC Housing Finance which saw its tax bill rising to Rs 47 crore (Rs 470 million) in the reporting quarter from Rs 38 crore (Rs 380 million).

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Among auto companies, barring the largest player Tata Motors, which saw its tax bill dipping a tad to Rs 62 crore (Rs 620 million) from Rs 65 crore (Rs 650 million), all others reported higher numbers.

Bajaj Auto paid Rs 125 crore (Rs 1.35 billion) up from Rs 110 crore (Rs 1.10 billion), Mahindra & Mahindra paid nearly 50 per cent more at Rs 90 crore (Rs 900 million) as against Rs 63 crore (Rs 630 million).

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Steel major Tata Steel also saw its tax bill shrinking during the reporting quarter to Rs 280 crore (Rs 2.80 billion) from Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion), so did another group company Tata Chemicals, which paid up only Rs  27 crore (Rs 270 million) against Rs  29 crore (Rs 290 million).

Aluminium major Hindalco's tax bill rose to Rs 80 crore (Rs 800 million) as against Rs 55 crore (Rs 550 million). So did the engineering behemoth L&T which coughed up Rs 175 crore (Rs 1.75 billion) in advance taxes, up from Rs 130 crore (Rs 1.30 billion).

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Similarly, consumer goods leader HUL too saw its tax bill jumping to Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) from Rs 75 crore (Rs 750 million).

Oil companies presented a mixed picture with Bharat Petroleum paying a little more than half of what it had paid last time at Rs 77 crore (Rs 770 million), against Rs 126 crore (Rs 1.26 billion); while both Hindustan Petroleum and MRPL paid up more at Rs 62 crore (Rs 620 million) as against Rs 61 crore (Rs 610 million) and Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) up from Rs 67 crore (Rs 670 million), respectively.

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Cement players saw their tax outgo shrinking. ACC saw its tax bill declining to Rs 45 crore (Rs 450 million) from Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million), Ambuja too paid up less at Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) as against Rs 65 crore (Rs 650 million), while UltraTech bucked the trend with a sharp spike in its tax bill at Rs 37 crore (Rs 370 million) against Rs 22 crore (Rs 220 million).

Pharma major Lupin paid Rs 18 crore (Rs 180 million) up from Rs 16 crore (Rs 160 million), AC major Voltas paid more at Rs 23 crore (Rs 230 million) as against Rs 18 crore (Rs 180 million) in Q1 last year, and the tobacco leader Godfrey Philips saw its tax bill exactly doubling to Rs 12 crore (Rs 120 million) from Rs 6 crore (Rs 60 million).