Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that the government will clear the entire due on the pending balance of the GST compensation of Rs 16,982 crores today itself. The Finance Minister added that the due amount will be cleared from the government's pocket as the compensation fund doesn't have a sufficient amount.
"We have announced today that the entire due on the pending balance of the GST compensation will be cleared as of today... In other words, the entire pending balance of the GST compensation - a total of Rs 16,982 crores for June - will be cleared," Sitharaman said.
"Although this amount is not really available in the compensation fund as of today, we have decided to release this amount from our own resources and the same amount will be recouped from the future compensation cess collection," the Finance Minister added.
"With this release, the Centre would clear the entire provisionally admissible compensation cess dues for 5 years as envisaged in the GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017," Sitharaman added.
In addition to this, the Finance Minister also announced that the government is reducing GST on Raab, a kind of liquid jaggery.
"Raab is a kind of liquid jaggery which is so typical to Uttar Pradesh & other jaggery-producing states. We are reducing the GST rate on Raab from 18% to nil or 5%. Nil if it is loose. If it is pre-packaged and labelled, it will be 5%," she said.
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