New Delhi, Nov 3 (IANS): The Finance Ministry on Wednesday released an amount of Rs 17,000 crore of GST compensation to states and Union Territories with legislature under the back-to-back loan facility to meet the shortfall in GST compensation.

The total amount of compensation released to the states/UTs so far including the aforesaid amount during 2021-22, now stands at Rs 60,000 crore.

As per the decision of the GST Council, back to back loans of Rs 1.59 lakh crore has already been released in lieu of shortfall in release of GST compensation during the current financial year.

With the release of additional amount of GST compensation, the Centre has further reduced chances of it meeting the GST shortfall of states through additional borrowings.

GST compensation is being released to states and UT every 2 months out of actual cess collection.

In the latest compensation release, Maharastra is the highest beneficiary as it has received over Rs 3,000 crore from the Centre. Other states with over Rs 1,000 crore compensation include Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh.