Bengal is among the 10 states which have not yet submitted the accountant general’s report to settle GST compensation, finance ministry officials said.
The other states were Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim and Uttarakhand and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said after the GST Council meeting that the Centre would clear the pending GST compensation after receiving the accountant general’s report.
She said the Centre releases the sum based on initial estimates and the actual amount is settled when the states submit the audit report.
The Centre has released compensation up to June 2022 based on these initial estimates.
When asked about the pending sum, the FM said the states would have to submit the AG’s report, “only then we will know”.
During the GST Council meeting, several Opposition states including Kerala, Punjab and Chhattisgarh raised the issue of continuation of compensation for another five years as the revenue buoyancy was less than 14 per cent.
The Centre had borrowed Rs 2.69 trillion in 2020-21 and 2021-22 when GST collections dwindled after Covid and passed it on to states as back-to-back loans to partly meet the shortfall in collections.
