Direct tax collections after refunds grew 13% year-on-year to Rs 12.12 lakh crore as of September 17 this fiscal year, driven primarily by strong advance tax payments by companies for the second quarter, data released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Friday showed. Overall advance tax collections increased 16.2% year-on-year to Rs 5.22 lakh crore till September 17, with corporate payments growing at 18.1% at Rs 4.16 lakh crore on strong profits made by a section of India Inc. Mop-up from the non-corporate side, comprising mostly individual taxpayers, rose 9.2% to Rs 1.06 lakh crore.