Shri P Chidambaram, inaugurated the conference with the Chief Commissioners and Directors General of Central Board of Excise & Customs on 24th July 2006 at New Delhi.

 In the current financial year, the customs duty collections registered a 20% rise to touch Rs 23,570 crore in Q1 this year, as against Rs 19,677 crores during same period last year. However the excise duty collections during the Q1 had increased only by 6.8%. However, Shri  Chidambaram was, confident of meeting the budget targets on indirect tax collections because there has been  a 31.6% rise in service tax collections which rose to Rs 7,257 crores during April-June 2007.

"We are slightly behind on excise, a shade behind on service tax, but we have no grave concerns in terms of budgetary targets... Now, I am confident that with the economy growing at close to 9%, the department will be able to meet the budget estimates," he said. 

Delhi, Service Tax , however, surpassed the national growth of Service tax by more than twice. The service tax collection in Delhi Service Tax Commissionerate recorded a growth of 66% in the first quarter of this year against the national average of 31.6%.

Service tax growth supports confidence in meeting indirect tax targets as collections outpace other levies. Service tax collections registered substantially higher growth nationally and in a metropolitan commissionerate, outpacing excise while customs also rose markedly; these collection patterns underpin confidence that indirect tax targets and budgetary estimates can be met, with macroeconomic expansion cited as supportive of projected outcomes.