The income tax department issued refunds worth ₹2.03 lakh crore, a 15.98% drop over the same period last year.
Gross tax collections rose 2.36% year-on-year to ₹13.92 lakh crore, according to the data.
The collections included ₹5.01 lakh crore in corporate tax and ₹6.56 lakh crore in non-corporate tax.
The government collected security transaction tax (STT) worth ₹30,878 crore in the period under review. It has budgeted ₹78,000 crore from STT in the current financial year.
The government has budgeted ₹25.2 lakh crore in net direct tax revenue for FY26, up from ₹22.3 lakh crore in FY25 when collections rose 13.6%, exceeding initial budgeted target.