Amit Mitra, the principal chief advisor to the West Bengal chief minister and the state finance department Thursday said the Centre has not released Rs 27,000 crore Integrated Goods and Services Tax dues to the states, which if cleared would have bolstered the country's economic growth.
Mitra, who was the former finance minister of the state, asserted that Bengal's growth story has remained intact and its GST growth in 2021-22 was 23 per cent. "The BJP state president should know the facts and calculations about its computation. The Centre is depriving the states of IGST dues of Rs 27000 crore. The disbursement of the amount would have boosted the economy and demand in the country, which would have in turn repaired the supply chain that has collapsed due to wrong macroeconomic policies of the Centre," he said at a virtual press conference.
IGST is one of the three components of the Goods and Services Tax and is levied whenever there is an inter-state transfer and supply of goods and services. Mitra said that the Centre should clear the financial dues of Rs 97000 crore to the state.
"Where is federalism? The Centre must clear the state's financial dues," he said Mitra's comment came after state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar demanded that the state government give some relief to the people by reducing fuel prices as the Centre has cleared GST dues worth Rs 6,521 crore to it. On Tuesday the union finance ministry had said that the Centre has cleared the entire GST compensation payable till date by releasing Rs 86,912 crore to the states. Of this Rs 25,000 crore was released from the GST compensation fund and the balance of Rs 61,912 crore from the Centre's own resources pending collection of cess.
"In April and May, the first two months of the current fiscal year, the GST collection in Bengal has grown by 19.23 per cent against the protected rate of 14 per cent. Mr Majumdar should know the facts," he said. Mitra attributed the rise to all round development in West Bengal due to the state government's demand-led policies that helped the manufacturing, agriculture and services sector to flourish.
"These led to healthy GST collection," he said. Speaking about adverse financial situations in some states, he claimed "We (Bengal) are in better shape. The GST collection is one of the major barometers."