Direct tax collections during the nine-month period ending December 2009 rose by 8.5 per cent reflecting economic revival and better performance by corporates. A Finance Ministry release said the collection of personal income tax, however, declined marginally by 0.41 per cent during the period in 2009-10 on account of larger refunds. The buoyancy in direct tax collections comes in the backdrop of the economy showing signs of revival despite the adverse impact of drought and floods in different parts of the country. AIR correspondent reports, direct taxes, which include corporate tax, personal income tax, wealth tax and others fetched the exchequer 2.5 lakh rupees crore during April-December 2009-10 compared to 2.30 lakh rupees crore during the corresponding period previous fiscal. If the growth trend continues, as projected by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu, the government will meet the budgetary target of direct tax collection at 3.7 lakh crore rupees during 2009-10.The finance minister in his budget had projected 7.4 per cent increase in direct tax collections during the current fiscal.