NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday released two instalments of tax devolution to state governments amounting to Rs 1,16,665 crore as against normal monthly devolution of Rs 58,333 crore. Finance ministry in a statement said release of the two instalments of tax devolution “is in line with the commitment of the government to strengthen the hands of states to accelerate their capital and developmental expenditure.”
The Centre has so far released Rs 4.93 lakh crore in the current financial year to states as against Rs 4 lakh crore in the same period last year. The Centre shares 41% of the tax revenue it collects with the states. The share of each state is decided by the finance commission. Meanwhile, the documents from the ministry show Centre has approved Rs 60,000 crore as special assistance to states for capital investment in the first half of the financial year. However against the approved amount, Rs 28,500 crore has been released so far.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the budget earlier this year had proposed to allocate Rs 1 lakh crore to assist states in catalysing investments in the economy for 2022-23. Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided to the states in the form of 50-year interest-free loan for capital investment projects.
As per the documents, capex of Rs 58,200 crore has been approved under part-I for the Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh. Of the total approved amount, Rs 26,300 crore has been released to the states.
An amount of Rs 1,200 crore was approved (and released) for Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Uttarakhand based on the recommendations received from the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications.