In what is being seen as a strong endorsement of the bullish trend in the economy, Corporate India heavyweights have substantially raised the quantum of advance tax payments this year.

The second instalment of advance tax, paid by the top 100 companies in September this year, grew 22 per cent to Rs 8,958.71 crore (Rs 89.587 billion) from Rs 7,293.54 crore (Rs 72.93 billion) in the quarter ended September 2002.

This accounted for 40 per cent of the total corporate tax collections.

Tata Steel, riding the boom in the steel sector, paid Rs 230 crore (Rs 2.30 billion) -- a massive jump of 2,326 per cent from the Rs 9.48 crore (Rs 94.8 million) paid last September. Reliance paid Rs 85 crore (Rs 850 million), almost 55 per cent more than the Rs 55 crore (Rs 550 million) paid in its second instalment in 2002.

The buoyant mood has spread across most sectors. Ranbaxy coughed up 159 per cent more advance tax at Rs 70 crore (Rs 700 million), Larsen and Toubro paid Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million) (733 per cent more) and Tata Motors paid Rs 24 crore (Rs 240 million) (532 per cent more).

MICO paid 80.85 per cent more tax at Rs 42 crore (Rs 420 million) and Grasim Industries paid Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million), a 50 per cent jump from what it had paid as second instalment in 2002.

However, Bajaj Auto paid 2.78 per cent less advance tax at Rs 70 crore (Rs 700 million) this year  compared with the Rs 72 crore (Rs 720 million) it paid in the second quarter of 2002.

Also, LG Electronics, paid Rs 21 crore (Rs 210 million), 21 per cent less than last year's Rs 28 crore (Rs 280 million).

In absolute terms, the first nine positions on the list of the Top 100 tax payers are occupied by public sector companies.

ONGC leads the pack with an advance tax payment of Rs 1,422 crore (Rs 14.22 billion). It had paid Rs 1,392 crore (Rs 13.92 billion) as second instalment of advance tax in 2002.

In terms of sectoral distribution, banking and financial institutions dominate the list.

Banks and FIs accounted for Rs 3,000.31 crore (Rs 30.003 billion) or almost 34 per cent of the total mop-up from advance tax in September.

The share of the petroleum sector, which was 33.86 per cent of the tax mop-up in 2002-03, dropped to 27.2 per cent at Rs 2,438.91 crore (Rs 24.389 billion) this year.

The other major sectors to contribute to the tax kitty are mining (Rs 616.99 crore), power (Rs 423.81 crore) and telecom (Rs 340 crore).