Modi Govt Releases Rs 17,000 Cr GST Compensation To States And UTs

The central government has released an amount of Rs 17,000 crore to states and union territories (UTs) on Thursday towards the balance goods and services tax (GST) compensation for the period April to June 2022. 

The Ministry of Finance in a statement said that the total amount of compensation released to the states and UTs so far, including the aforesaid amount, during the year 2022-23 is Rs 1,15,662 crore.

"This is despite the fact that the total cess collection till October 2022 is only Rs 72,147 crore and the balance of Rs 43,515 crore is being released by the centre from its own resources," it added.

With this release, the centre has released, in advance, the entire amount of cess estimated to be collected this year till March-end available for payment of compensation to States. 

"This decision was taken to assist the States in managing their resources and ensuring that their programmes especially the expenditure on capital is carried out successfully during the financial year," the statement added.

Even in May this year, the central government had released Rs 86,912 crore as provisional GST compensation to states for the period February to May 2022 despite the fact that there was only about Rs 25,000 crore in the GST compensation fund, by making arrangements of funds of around Rs 62,000 crore from its own resources.