New Delhi: Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman has authorised the release of an advance instalment of tax devolution to state governments amounting to Rs 47,541 crore. This is in addition to the regular devolution for the month of January 2022, also being released today. Thus, states would receive a total of Rs 95,082 crore or double their respective entitlement during the month of January 2022, said the Finance Ministry on Thursday.

It is pertinent to mention that the Government of India had released the first advance instalment of tax devolution amounting to Rs 47,541 crore to states on November 22, 2021. With the release of the second advance instalment today, the states would have received an additional amount of Rs 90,082 crore under tax devolution over and above what has been budgeted to be released till January, 2022.

It also needs to be noted that release from the Government of India of the back-to-back loan amounting to Rs 1.59 lakh crore to state governments in lieu of GST compensation shortfall in FY 2021-22 was completed by the end of October 2021. This is in line with the commitment of the Government of India to strengthen the hands of states to accelerate their capital and developmental expenditure to ameliorate the deleterious effects of Covid-19 pandemic. /BI/