Borrow from RBI to bridge GST gap, Centre tells States

Pandemic an act of God, says Nirmala Sitharaman; States want 7 days to consider options.

August 27, 2020 05:33 pm | Updated 10:43 pm IST - New Delhi

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with MoS for Finance Anurag Thakur at the 41st GST council meeting via video conferencing, in New Delhi on August 27, 2020.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with MoS for Finance Anurag Thakur at the 41st GST council meeting via video conferencing, in New Delhi on August 27, 2020.

The Centre on Thursday acknowledged that States are likely to face a GST revenue gap of ₹3 lakh crore this year, as the economy may contract due to COVID-19, which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman termed an unforeseen “act of God”.

At the GST Council meeting, the Centre distinguished between the shortfall due to GST implementation itself — claiming that this is the portion “hardwired” into the compensation law — and that caused by the impact of COVID-19. It offered two options for borrowing by States to meet the shortfall, and has given them seven days to consider the proposal, Ms. Sitharaman told journalists after the Council meeting.

Also read | Centre morally bound to compensate States for GST shortfall: Sushil Modi

Finance Ministers from Congress-ruled States, also speaking to journalists after the meeting, said they were unhappy with the outcome, as the Centre was not honouring its commitment to pay full compensation to revenue-starved States.

Alleging a “trust deficit” between the Centre and States, they asked why the former could not borrow money to compensate the States, adding that the proposed solution of borrowing by States should not be forced on them.

“This year, we are facing an extraordinary situation,” said Ms. Sitharaman. “You are facing an act of God, which might even result in a contraction of the economy — to what per cent or whatever, I am not getting into.” 

The Minister added that the GST Compensation Act, 2017 “did not foresee an act of God.”

Also read | Centre unable to pay GST dues to States: Union Finance Secretary

That law guaranteed States that they would be compensated for any loss of revenue in the first five years of GST implementation, until 2022, using a cess levied on sin and luxury goods. However, the economic slowdown has pushed both GST and cess collections down over the last year, resulting in a 40% gap last year between the compensation paid and cess collected.

As per the Centre’s estimates, the States’ GST revenue gap in 2020-21 will amount to about ₹3 lakh crore, while cess collections are only projected to reach ₹65,000 crore, leaving a shortfall of ₹2.35 lakh crore.

The Centre has calculated that only ₹97,000 crore of the shortfall is due to GST implementation itself, while the rest is due to the impact of COVID-19, said Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey. The Finance Minister described this ₹97,000 crore as “that portion which is strictly hardwired in the [Compensation] Act”.

Comment | Making up for shortfalls in GST collection

Mr. Pandey cited legal opinion from the Attorney General, to say that although “protected revenue” has to be protected, the compensation gap must be met from the cess fund through the levy of cess, and “cannot be met from the Consolidated Fund of India.” Instead, the AG suggested that the compensation levy can be extended beyond five years, to meet this shortfall.

Keeping this in mind, two options were presented to the Council. “A special window could be provided, in consultation with the RBI, so that the States can get this ₹97,000 crore at a reasonable rate of interest, and this amount can be repaid after five years through the collection of cess,” said Mr. Pandey. “Another option is that this entire gap of ₹2.35 lakh crore can be met by the borrowing by the States. There also, arrangement could be made with the RBI and certain facilities could be provided.”

Also read | States shouldn’t be asked to borrow from market to fund GST shortfall: West Bengal FM

Ms. Sitharaman added that for States choosing the first option, she would be willing to remove conditions around a further 0.5% relaxation in States’ borrowing limits under the FRBM Act.

States have asked for seven working days to consider the detailed proposals. Another meeting of the Council may be held after that, said Mr. Pandey.

Ms. Sitharaman said there was no discussion on increasing tax rates during the meeting. She expressed gratitude that there was no attempt to politicise the issue within the Council, adding that “States behaved like statesmen”. However, outside the Council meeting, parties were politicising the issue, she said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.