Finance Ministe Nirmala Sitharaman said that the GST council are looking at ways to compensate states for the loss of revenue. The finance minister said that she will honour the commitments made by her predecessor Arun Jaitley regarding the payout of the GST compensation.
Nirmala Sitharaman addressed the issue by saying, “Even we are in an act of God situation, but we will discuss in the council about how to give compensation to the states.”
The states have a revenue shortfall of Rs. 2.35 lakh crore this fiscal year. Last month the center gave two options to states to borrow either Rs. 97,000 crore from a special window at the RBI or Rs. 2.35 lakh crore from the market.
Chief Ministers of six states that is Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Kerala, Delhi and Telangana have written to the center opposing to the options. All the six territories belong to non-BJP ruled states.
Nirmala Sitharaman said on the matter that “we are ready to discuss. We are taking everyone together and council will find a view.”
She said that the center is trying their best and has given states their due shares even in the tough times of COVID-19.
