GST compensation options: 13 states opt for offer, 6 to decide soon

The Centre had last month offered two options to states to compensate them under GST regime

As many as 13 states have chosen one of the two options for GST compensation given by the Centre.

Twelve states — Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Uttarakhand, and Odisha — opted for the Rs 97,000-crore window, to be facilitated by the Reserve Bank of India, finance ministry sources said. Manipur opted for the borrowing option, which is to the tune of Rs 2.35 trillion for all the states. Goa, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Himachal Pradesh will be choosing in a day or two.

Sources said some states have expressed their views to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and are yet to decide on the options.

Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab, Delhi, and a few other states have already expressed their views against the two options. The Centre had last month offered two options to states to compensate them under GST regime.

One was an offer of a special window to states, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, to the tune of Rs 95,000 crore at a reasonable interest rate. The other was for states to borrow Rs 2.35 trillion from the market, with the RBI as a facilitator.