On Thursday, the central government released Rs 17,000 crore to states and union territories (UTs) for balance goods and services tax (GST) compensation for the period April to June 2022.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the total amount of compensation released to states and UTs so far, including the aforementioned amount, for the fiscal year 2022-23 is Rs 1,15,662 crore.
“This is despite the fact that the total cess collection up to 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 central government has made available in advance the entire amount of cess estimated to be collected this year until March 31 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 of this year, the central government released Rs 86,912 crore as provisional GST compensation to states for the period February to May 2022, despite the fact that the GST compensation fund had only about Rs 25,000 crore, by arranging funds of around Rs 62,000 crore from its own resources.