NEW DELHI: The Central GST collection fell short of the budged estimate by about 40 per cent during the April-November period of 2019-20, the government has admitted in Parliament, which is making it difficult for states to manage their finance as their four-month compensation is lying pending with the government.
According to Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur, the actual CGST collection during April-November stood at Rs 3,28,365 crore while the budgeted estimate is of Rs 5,26,000 crore for these months. He said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
With falling CGST, the government is finding it difficult to pay compensation to states for the last four months since August. The October-November period loss has to be paid by December 10.
As per the provision of GST, the Centre would compensate to state governments for any revenue loss in the first five years of the implementation of the GST. For any revenue shortfall below 14 per cent (base year 2015-16) for the first five years to 2022, states are guaranteed by the central government in terms of compensation, according to the GST Act.
The matter had been flagged by many states, who met the finance minister over the issue.
On Tuesday, during a special mention in Rajya Sabha, YSRCP member Vijaysai Reddy said Andhra Pradesh has been suffering the GST revenue loss since August. Revenue officials have calculated the state’s GST revenue loss at Rs 1,605 crore.
“It is mandatory for the Centre to release the GST loss to states once in two months. The government of India has not paid the compensation for GST revenue loss to Andhra Pradesh for August and September, which was supposed to be paid in October,” Reddy said.