Extending GST Compensation Cess Period

Finance Ministers from numerous states met with the Union Finance Minister just a day before the GST Council’s 46th meeting on December 31, and demanded that the GST compensation system be extended beyond June 2022, when it is slated to expire. Citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the overall economy and, more specifically, state revenues, states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh stated that, while the introduction of GST had harmed their revenues, they had not been harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the epidemic had put back any potential revenue comeback, particularly at a time when they had been compelled to spend significantly more to manage the public health emergency and its socio-economic consequences for their inhabitants.