When the world was reeling under a severe financial crunch, India went out to prove another point; its banking business was not only profitable but had outperformed all other sectors.

The icing on the cake was the first quarter advance (direct) tax results when for the first time in the history of corporate India, SBI became the country's highest taxpayer, leaving behind numero uno ONGC. ICICI Bank has paid the highest tax of Rs 350 crore in Q1 among the private and foreign banks.

While all the results of advance tax payments for Q1 are yet to be compiled by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the available data reveal that among the top 25 companies, 11 are from the banking and financial sector and each of them paid the government between Rs 100 crore and Rs 1,000 crore for the April-June 2009 period.

1. State Bank of India - Advance tax for June 2009: Rs 1,068 cr , June 2008: Rs 663 cr
2. ONGC- Advance tax for June 2009: Rs 890 cr , June 2008: Rs 1,333 cr
3. LIC- Advance tax for June 2009: Rs 469 cr ,June 2008: Rs 435 cr
4. ICICI Bank- Advance tax for June 2009: Rs 350 cr, June 2008: Rs 340 cr
5. Steel Authority of India Ltd- Advance tax for June 2009: Rs 345 cr, June 2008: Rs 457 cr
6. Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd- Advance tax for June 2009: Rs 320 cr, June 2008: Rs 300 cr
7. Reliance Industries Ltd- Advance tax for June 2009: Rs 314 cr, June 2008: Rs 340 cr
8. DIC (Insurance)- Advance tax for June 2009: Rs 302 cr, June 2008: Rs 247 cr
9. NTPC- Advance tax for June 2009: Rs 275 cr, June 2008: Rs 188 cr
10. GAIL- Advance tax for June 2009: Rs 250 cr, June 2008: Rs 335 cr