CEA to advice certain states on plugging revenue gap post GST rollout

With some states facing revenue shortfall even after 10 months of GST rollout, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian has been tasked with suggesting ways for the laggard states to shore up their tax mop-up.

The GST Council in its May 4 meeting had identified about 5 states, including Punjab and Bihar, which face maximum revenue shortfall post implementation of the indirect tax regime from July 1, 2017.

Tax officers from Punjab and Bihar are likely to meet Subramanian next week, followed by a meeting with Chhattisgarh officers, an official said.

"The GST Council in its last meeting (on May 4)has tasked the Chief Economic Adviser to meet the states which are suffering revenue shortfall post GST implementation to understand the reasons and suggest corrective action," the official told PTI.

As per official data based on revenue collection till February 2018, 11 states were facing maximum revenue shortfall, with shortage in Bihar and Punjab at over 40 per cent.

The same for Himachal Pradesh was as high as 50 per cent, while for Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh the shortfall was around 40 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively.

While Odisha faced a shortfall of 30 per cent, it was 28 per cent for Madhya Pradesh and 20 per cent for Assam.

Besides, Jharkhand, Tripura, Jammu & Kashmir and Puducherry had suffered a revenue gap of over 20 per cent.

As per the data, states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and UT Delhi