"The service tax levy alone will fetch a whopping Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) to the government exchequer by 2010 provided the existing service tax list, which currently contains 72 items, is doubled," according to Assocham estimates.

It said government may have identified over 700 items to bring more and more items under service tax net to collect about Rs 1,00,000 crore (Rs 1000 billion) by 2015.

Service tax has already contributed a little over Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) of revenue to the government kitty in the first two months of the current fiscal against the targeted revenue of Rs 17,500 crore (Rs 175 billion) estimated for 2005-06, the chamber said.