Himachal's GST share of Rs 1,628 cr for Apr-Jul pending with Centre

Replying to Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur) and Asha Kumari (Dalhousie) during the Question Hour, Thakur informed the state Assembly that Rs 1,628 crore of state's GST share for first four months from April to July of the current financial year 2020-21 is pending with the Centre. The above due amount will be compensated by the central government, he added.

Himachal Pradesh's Goods and Services Tax (GST) share of Rs 1,628 crore is pending with the central government, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Thursday. Replying to Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur) and Asha Kumari (Dalhousie) during the Question Hour, Thakur informed the state Assembly that Rs 1,628 crore of state's GST share for first four months from April to July of the current financial year 2020-21 is pending with the Centre.

The above due amount will be compensated by the central government, he added. The chief minister said the protected amount till July in the current financial year is Rs 2,335 crore. The state GST collection during the period was 707 crore, while Rs 1,628 crore compensation is due, he added.

He said the state has received Rs 2,477 crore compensation for financial year 2019-20, and no amount is pending for the financial year. In a separate question, leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri asked whether the centre had directed Himachal Pradesh to borrow money instead of providing GST compensation.

Replying to the question, the chief minister said two options were discussed in GST Council's 41st meeting to compensate states, and both the options are still under GST Council's consideration. In the current fiscal, the states are staring at a staggering Rs 2.35 lakh crore GST revenue shortfall.

Of this, as per the Centre's calculation, about Rs 97,000 crore is on account of GST implementation and rest Rs 1.38 lakh crore is due to the impact of COVID on states' revenues. The Centre last month gave two options to states to borrow either Rs 97,000 crore from a special window facilitated by the RBI or Rs 2.35 lakh crore from market, and has also proposed extending the compensation cess levied on luxury, demerit and sin goods beyond 2022 to repay the borrowing.

Thakur said Rs 1,007 crore has been received from the Centre in the current financial year of 2020-21 as GST arrears. He said Rs 6,998 is protected amount for 2020-21 financial year, and the difference between GST collection and protected amount will be compensated.

Thakur further stated that the state government raised a net loan of Rs 2,953 crore during the first seven months from January to July this year. He said the state took Rs 5,677 crore of gross loans and repaid Rs 2,724 crore during January-July.

Apart from this, debt liabilities on account of GPF and others also accrue to the state government in Public Account, which is maintained by the Accountant General (AG) of the state, he added. PTI DJI RVK.