GST Conclave: Punjab Economy Still Has Rs 50,000-Crore Revenue Loss, Says Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema

Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said on Tuesday that Punjab has Rs 50,000 crore in revenue losses and is in need of compensation from the Union government.

Cheema was part of a panel discussion at the GST Conclave event hosted by NDTV Profit.

He stated that if the value added tax that was replaced by goods and services tax was to have continued, Punjab would have collected 2.37 lakh crores in taxes.

He further said that the central government's commitment was to compensate all states for five years. According to the minister, state governments faced a lot of challenges over the past eight years of GST.

"We thank the central government as they met their compensation promise for the five years," Cheema said.

He also added that, despite this, the losses in revenue worth Rs 50,000 crore are yet to be compensated. "State economies are being destabilised. Despite 100% compliance, we are still sitting on losses," the Punjab finance minister said.

He stated that in the 27 times Punjab had exemptions, rate reductions have been reduced 15 times. "We demanded during the council meeting to review numbers of where states were before the introduction of GST and now," Chema said.

He further added that Punjab is in favour of GST rate reductions, but that state economies need to be kept in mind when decisions are made by the Centre.