New Delhi, Mar 27 (IANS): The total amount of cess and surcharge grew by 63.74 per cent from 2017-18 to 2022-23 (RE), the Parliament was told on Monday.

Collections under GST Compensation Cess grew by 107.6 per cent from 2017-18 to 2022-23 (RE), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

The Minister saidthat in the case of GST Compensation Cess, the proceeds of the cess leviable is initially credited to the Consolidated Fund of India, in terms of Article 266 of the Constitution, and the funds are provided to the States/UTs through GST Compensation Fund created in Public Account of India as per provisions of the GST Compensation Act, 2017.

In 2022-23, despite the collection of Rs 1,15,650 crore (till February 2022), a total amount of Rs 1,49,168 was released to the states/UTs. Further, during the FY(s) 2020-21 and 2021-22, the Union Government decided to borrow an amount of Rs 1.1 lakh crore and Rs 1.59 lakh crore to meet the shortfall in GST Compensation Cess collections and transferred the amount to the states as back-to-back loan to strengthen the states' resources, the reply added.

The surcharges levied by the government are not meant for any specific purpose. These are used, in general, for various activities of the government including public health, subsidies, education, interest payments, defence etc, added the reply.