New Delhi: The second installment of GST compensation has been released today by the Union Finance Ministry. As in the first installment, Rs 6,000 crore has been disbursed in the second installment. The compensation will be available to 14 states and three union territories in the country, including Odisha. Through two installments, the central government has paid a total of Rs 12,000 crore in GST compensation. According to the government, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry. The central government has raised the money at a rate of 8.62 per cent. Of the two options offered by the central government for GS6 compensation, 21 states and three union territories have adopted the first option. Yesterday, Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said talks were underway to explain to some states that they had not taken any alternative. He asserted that his confession had been obtained through torture. In particular, non-BJP-ruled states have not accepted any of the Centre’s proposals. The first proposal made by the Center in the case of GST compensation is that the central government will raise Rs 1.1 lakh crore in loans for the states and hand over the money to the states.
