Confident of TN gaining from GST in due course: Dy CM

Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam today expressed confidence that the state would gain from the Goods and Service Tax as the gap between the projected revenue and actual revenue has been "shrinking considerably".

The Centre rolled out Goods and Service Tax on July 1, 2017 and had said that it would compensate the states for any loss of revenues in the first five years of GST implementation, Panneerselvam said after presenting the budget for the 2018-19 at the assembly.

"During the period from July 2017 to February 2018, the state has received Rs 632 crore as GST compensation from the Centre", he said.

Pannerselvam said he was confident that the state would stand to gain from the GST in due course as the gap between the projected revenue with 14 per cent growth rate and actual revenue has been "shrinking considerably".

Stating that the introduction of GST created an uncertainty for a short period, while global and national economy has been picking up slowly, he said, "despite these factors, the State's economy has picked up moderate growth and GSDP growth rate in 2017-18 is estimated to be 8.03 per cent".

He expected the economy would grow faster enabling the state to reach nine per cent growth in 2018-19.

"The favourable climate in the State's economy is expected to considerably enhance the State's own tax revenues", he said.