Mumbai, Jun 16: The gross advance tax collection fell 31 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal, with advance corporate tax mop-up declining 79 per cent, an official said on Tuesday.

"Gross direct tax collection fell a full 31 per cent to Rs 1,37,825 crore in the first quarter of FY21, down from Rs 1,99,755 crore in the June 2019 quarter," an income tax official told PTI.

During the first two months of the June quarter, a nationwide lockdown was in place aimed at controlling the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. This had resulted in shuttering of around 80 per cent of the country's economic activities.

Even though the lockdown has been lifted considerably from June 1, the economy is yet to crawl back to normalcy. The last day to pay advance taxes was June 15.