‘Rs 20,000 crore for states tonight’: FM Nirmala after GST Council meet

The 42nd edition of the Goods and Services Tax Council meeting was held via video conferencing on October 5, 2020. Following the meeting, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed the media and revealed two key decisions. One was regarding the release of the entire compensation cess fund collected this year so far, amounting to Rs 20,000 crore. Sitharaman said that the entire amount would be released to states by the end of the day. The second was regarding the 'long-drawn' problem of IGST. Sitharaman said that before a proper formula to divide IGST funds, some states had been given more than they were entitled to, while others got less. She said that a panel headed by Bihar Finance Minister Sushil Kumar Modi had come out with ways to deal with the situation. She said that the states which had received less funds would get the balance by end of next week. She added that states which owed money won't be pressurised to repay for now, given the difficult financial position due to Covid-19 pandemic. Watch the full video for more.