NEW DELHI: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday revealed the release of Rs 33,500 crore to states towards GST compensation, that includes over Rs 16,500 crore to six states that have actually finished the paperwork to get their whole claim settled.Almost Rs 17,000 crore will go to states as the staying compensation for June 2022, when the five-year compensation period ended.

The money will flow to the states and 2 Union territories, Delhi and Puducherry, from the Centre as there is a shortfall in the GST Compensation Fund and will be recovered in coming months, the financing minister said after a conference of the GST Council.During the first 5 years of GST, the Centre had actually assured to compensate states in case revenue development was under 14% on an annual basis, by transferring cash collected as cess on sodas, tobacco, cars and some other products.

The transfer to release the cess comes amid claims from opposition-governed states such as Kerala and West Bengal that the Centre is resting on their money.Pending balance of GST compensation will be cleared as of today: Nirmala SitharamanRecently, Sitharaman had actually told Parliament that these states have actually not received the full payment as they were yet to submit a certificate from the accountant general.On Saturday, she stated that around 90% of the payment claim is released provisionally with the remaining money paid after the certificate is received, clarifying that all the funds are not held up.Entire GST settlement dues will be cleared: Sitharaman Waiting for the certificate does not imply that we have actually not launched funds.

Almost 90% is launched on a provisional basis and 5-8% is retained subject to AG certificate, the minister said.There are several states, including BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, that had actually not submitted the AG certificate for 5 years, while others such as Bihar and Assam have it pending for a year or more, according to details looked at by the financing ministry.

Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana are amongst those that have actually submitted the certificate for five years with their whole claim settled.