Telangana Minister Harish Rao to ask Centre for financial relief in 43rd GST Council meeting

HYDERABAD: As the State is facing a financial crisis due to the second lockdown, Finance Minister T Harish Rao is expected to demand the Centre provide some relief to Telangana in the upcoming 43rd Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting on May 28.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s office tweeted on Saturday that the Minister will chair the meeting via video conferencing.

Harish Rao, who will attend the meeting from Hyderabad, is expected to raise the issues related to GST compensation, pending IGST dues and Covid-related problems. Some States have already demanded a reduction or abolition of GST on drugs and medical equipment being used for Covid-19 treatment.

The ongoing 10-day lockdown, which may be extended further, and may have an adverse impact on all the sectors in the State. 

Main revenue sources of the State such as GST collections, Stamps and Registration, and fuel and liquor would be affected too. With this, the State will raise a Rs 2,000-crore State Development Loan on May 18, taking the total borrowing in just two months of this financial year to Rs 5,000 crore.

Meanwhile, the latest audit report of March 2020 indicated that the total revenue receipts of the State for 2020-21 were Rs 99,903 crore against the estimated revenue of Rs 1,43,151.94. 

​The total revenue receipts in 2020-21 were just 69.79 per cent of the estimated amount. The capital expenditure in 2020-21 too was not encouraging. As against the estimated amount of Rs 22,061.18 crore, the total capital expenditure incurred was just Rs 16,181.30.