The Centre has released the 17th weekly installment of Rs 107.73 crore to Meghalaya.
The amount was released by the Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure on February 19. Till now, 91 percent of the total estimated GST compensation shortfall has been released to the State.
The Government of India had set up a special borrowing window in October, 2020 to meet the estimated shortfall of Rs. 1.10 lakh crore in revenue arising on account of implementation of GST.
The borrowings are being done through this window by the Government of India on behalf of the states and union territories. 17 rounds of borrowings have been completed so far starting from October 23, 2020.
Under the special window, the Government of India has been borrowing in Government Stock with tenor of three years and five years.
The borrowing made under each tenor is equally divided among all the States as per their GST compensation shortfall.
With the current release, the proportionate pending GST shortfall with respect to borrowing under five years tenure has been concluded for 16 states and two union territories. These states and union territories were onboard for GST compensation release from the first installment.
In addition to providing funds through the special borrowing window to meet the shortfall in revenue on account of GST implementation, the Government of India has also granted additional borrowing permission equivalent to 0.50 per cent of Gross States Domestic Product (GSDP) to the states choosing Option-I to meet GST compensation shortfall to help them in mobilising additional financial resources.
All the states have given their preference for Option-I. Permission for borrowing the entire additional amount of Rs. 1,06,830 crore (0.50 per cent of GSDP) has been granted to 28 states under this provision.
