Bengal is among the 10 states which have not submitted the accountant general’s report to settle GST compensation, said the finance ministry officials.
The other states they mentioned were Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim and Uttarakhand, and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, after the GST Council meeting, said that the pending GST compensation would be cleared by the Centre getting the accountant general’s report.
She said that the Centre publishes the amount on the basis of initial calculations and the actual amount is paid when the states submit the audit report.
The Centre has declared compensation up to June 2022 on the basis of these initial assessments. The states would have to submit the AG’s report after which they will know, the FM replied when the question about the pending amount was asked.
In the course of the GST Council meeting, the matter of continuation of compensation for another five years was raised by some states including Kerala, Punjab, and Chhattisgarh. The reason behind taking up this issue is that the revenue buoyancy was less than 14 per cent.
In 2020-21 and 2021-2022, the Centre borrowed Rs. 2.69 trillion when GST collections were reduced after Covid and left it to states as back-to-back loans to partly meet the deficiency in collections.
