Centre devolved more than Rs 3.09 trn to states till July: MoS Finance

The Centre has devolved over Rs 3.09 lakh crore to states till July of the Rs 10.21 lakh crore budgeted to be transferred in the current fiscal, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Tuesday.

"Out of Rs 10.21 lakh crore estimated to be transferred to states for the FY 2023-24, Rs 3,09,521.22 crore has been devolved till July 2023, in 4 instalments having double the normal amount in June'23 for FY 2023-24. There is no pendency on part of devolution payable to states...," Chaudhary said in the Lok Sabha.

Of the Rs 3.09 lakh crore net proceeds of shareable union taxes and duties distributed to the states, Central GST collection devolution stood at Rs 94,368 crore till July.

"Part of the CGST collected and credited to the Consolidated Fund of India is devolved to the States as per the accepted recommendations of the Finance Commission. The total amount of such CGST devolution released to states during FY 2022-23 was Rs 2,68,334.19 crore; this was released in 14 instalments," the minister said.

The 15th Finance Commission has recommended that states be given 41 per cent of the divisible tax pool of the Centre during the period 2021-22 to 2025-26, which is at the same level as was recommended by the 14th Finance Commission.

In reply to a separate question, Chaudhary said Goods and Services Tax (GST) has decreased the number of taxes and overall tax burden while significantly increasing transparency.

"It has resulted in the significant increase in the number of registered taxpayers. Before the GST regime, the number of registered taxpayers was around 54 lakhs, which has now increased to around 1.46 crore after the GST regime," he said.