The Centre on Wednesday released Rs 6,195 crore to 14 states as the third monthly instalment of the post-devolution revenue deficit grant.
"The government on June 10, 2020, released Rs 6,195.08 crore to 14 states as the third equated-monthly instalment of the post devolution revenue deficit grant as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission. This would provide them additional resources during the corona crisis," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted.
Earlier, on April 3 and May 11, the ministry released a similar amount as the first and second instalment of the post devolution revenue deficit grant to 14 states—Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
On June 4, the Centre also released Rs 36,400 crore that was due as GST compensation to states and union territories for the December-January-February period.
"Taking stock of the current situation due to COVID-19 where state governments need to undertake expenditure while their resources are adversely hit, the central government has released the GST compensation of Rs 36,400 crore to the states/UTs with legislature for the period from December 2019 to February 2020," an official statement said.
The GST Council is set to meet on June 12, where the relief amounts for subsequent periods is likely to be discussed. GST collection in March and April is likely to have dropped due to the impact of COVID-19 and the lockdown. As per the GST law, the centre must compensate states for any shortfall in case their revenue does not increase 14 per cent on the FY16 base year.
With states still fund-crunched as a result of the effect of COVID-19 on revenues, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had on Tuesday demanded that the Centre allow state governments to avail the additional borrowing limit of 2 per cent of GSDP without any conditions.
With inputs from PTI
