Pay us CST funds before GST: Finance minister Etela Rajender
Telangana would lose Rs 7,000 crore in revenues due to the abolition of CST
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-04-23 00:47 GMT
Hyderabad: Telangana finance minister Etela Rajender on Wednesday told the Central government that it must pay compensation to states for the abolition of Central Sales Tax (CST), before going ahead with the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Participating in the state finance ministers conference convened by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi on Wednesday, Mr Rajender said that Telangana would lose Rs 7,000 crore in revenues due to the abolition of CST.
He said that the Centre had paid the state Rs 460 crore recently, and sought the release of the rest of the money. He said that due to the cutting down of several Central schemes in the Union Budget, Telangana had suffered a reduction in Central assistance to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore.
He said unless special category status is accorded to the newly formed state, it cannot attract industrial investments. Mr Rajender met food minister Ram Vilas Pasw-an and sought more rice for Telangana under the PDS as the state has nearly two crore people living below the poverty line.