PANJIM: Goa has been allowed to borrow Rs 446 crore through open market borrowings to meet the shortfall arising out of GST compensation. The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, New Delhi has granted permission to 20 States, including Goa, to raise an additional amount of Rs 68,825 crore through open market borrowings.
Additional borrowing permission has been granted @ 0.50 % of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to those States who have opted for Option- 1 out of the two options suggested by the Ministry of Finance to meet the shortfall arising out of GST implementation. The projected total GST compensation shortfall in the current fiscal stands at Rs 2.35 lakh crore.
In the meeting of GST Council held on August 27, 2020, these two options were put forward and were subsequently communicated to the States on August 29, 2020. Twenty States have given their preferences for Option-1. These States include Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand . Eight States are yet to exercise an option.
