The government on Friday said the net direct tax collection till December 20 this fiscal amounted to Rs 7.36 lakh crore, a growth of 14% over the same period a year ago. This is 64% of the Budget estimate for direct tax collection in the current fiscal.“The growth rate of gross direct tax collection and net direct tax collection for the current financial year 2018-19 as on 20.12.2018 is 14.6% and 14.0%, respectively,” the government said.The number of income tax e-returns filed till December 6 stood at 6.09 crore, which is 47% higher than last year.