Editor's Pick: should Centre borrow, or should States?

The Hindu Newsletter - [The Hindu Logo]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Linkedin]( [Instagram]( Tuesday 06, October 2020 [alt_text]( Editor's Pick [GST stand-off extended]( [alt_text]( (The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.) The Centre's plan to get the States to borrow the Rs.2.35 lakh crore deficit in GST revenue for this year [ran into rough weather at the GST Council meet held yesterday](. Many NDA-ruled States decided to take the first of the [two options for borrowing laid out by the Centre](. But about 10 non-NDA States stayed away from both options and said that they had to be compensated in full by the Centre. Of the Rs.2.35 lakh crore deficit, Rs.1.10 lakh crore is due to the implementation of GST and the rest due to the pandemic's impact on the economy. There is a cess that [is being collected till 2022 to compensate States]( on the implementation front. Under the Centre's first option, States can borrow towards the implementation compensation on very favourable terms arranged by the RBI and the Centre. This would not be counted under the State's debts and the repayment will be done by extending the cess beyond 2022. Under the second option, States can borrow the full Rs. 2.35 lakh crore from the markets but with interest rates that may be high. At the meeting yesterday, the Centre agreed to release Rs.45,000 crore to the States, of which Rs.25,000 crore is towards the implementation shortfall and the rest towards the pandemic-induced shortfall. The Centre also said that some of the cess collected beyond 2022 can be towards repaying debts taken to meet the pandemic-induced shortfall. While the Centre made these concessions yesterday, 10 States are holding out for full compensation with all the borrowings being made by the Centre. The argument against this is that a higher debt for the Centre could have macroeconomic impact. However, delayed compensation to the States could also affect the restarting of the local economies. The solution has now been pushed to the next GST Council meeting on October 12. This extension of the political stand-off and its impact on the economy is what makes this story important. The Big Story [GST Council fails to reach consensus on compensating States]( [alt_text]( From the Front Page [alt_text]( [U.P. police claim conspiracy to trigger caste violence, defame govt. over Hathras]( [alt_text]( [Loans: SC questions Centre, RBI on panel report implementation]( From The Opinion Pages [alt_text]( [Farm Acts – unwanted constitutional adventurism]( [alt_text]( [India needs a rainbow recovery plan]( Today's Editorials [People’s court: On Madhya Prades](h by-elections [Pandemic peak: On Finance Minist](ry's report You are receiving this email because you are a user of [thehindu.com]( If you do not wish to receive any such emails, [unsubscribe here.](mailto:rm-0b4w8g34bf2f90kaup33rtbysa8hk96@newsalert.thehindu.com?subject=Unsubscribe&body=You will be unsubscribed from our mailing list.) To ensure you continue to receive emails from The Hindu in your inbox, please add newsletters.th@newsalert.thehindu.com to your contact. If you can't see the mailer, please [click here.]( Group Sites [The Hindu]( | [இந்து தமிழ் திசை]( | [Business Line]( | [BL on Campus]( | [Sportstar]( | [Frontline]( | [The Hindu Centre]( | [Images]( | [roofandfloor]( | [Classifieds]( Copyright @ 2020 ,THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. [About Us]( | [Contact Us]( | [Digital Subscription](