The government has achieved nearly 67 per cent of the direct tax collection target for the current fiscal. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said the growth rate of direct tax collection in 2017-18 financial year is 16.6 per cent as against the target rate of 15.32 per cent. As against the Budget estimate (BE) of Rs 9.80 lakh crore, the government has collected nearly Rs 6.49 lakh crore as direct taxes till December 18.This is 67 per cent of the BE.