DW BUREAU / chandigarh Reiterating Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's commitment of improving the fiscal health of the State while fulfiling all the guarantees, Punjab Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that the state has registered growth rate of 24.15 percent in the GST collection and 41.23 percent in excise collection during the first four months of financial year 2022-23 as compared to financial year 2021-22. Addressing a press conference here at Punjab Bhawan, the Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that the actual receipt growth has been very close to the budget estimated growth 27 percent in GST for Financial Year 2022-23. He said that the state witnessed a growth percentage of 3.46 percent in April, 44.79 percent in May, 51.49 percent in June and 13.05 percent in July this year as compared to year 2021. He further added that the success of new excise policy speaks for itself as the excise collection registered a growth of 41.23 percent with total excise collection stood at 2741.35 crore during the first four months of FY 2022-23 as compared to 1941.05 crore for the same period during last year. Listing another major achievement of the state government, Mr. Cheema said that the loan amount taken over for CCL gap in 2017 by the then SAD-BJP government was Rs 30,584 crore and the monthly instalment of this loan at 8.25 percent rate of interest was Rs 270 Crore. "We negotiated with the bank consortium and the interest rate on this loan has been reset at 7.35 percent (effective from April 1, 2022). Loan which was to be paid till September 2034 will now be disposed off in October 2033 at current pace", said the Punjab Finance Minister while adding that the total interest savings after renegotiation would be Rs 3,094 Crore to the state exchequer. Stating that state government has not only increased its revenue but also repaid its loans to put state in the higher trajectory of growth, Punjab Finance Minister said that the state has made an additional payment of Rs 2,266.94 crore while servicing debt worth Rs. 10, 366.94 Crore till July and availing loan of Rs 8,100 crore during the same period. "This includes the payments paid to bailout institutions like Punjab State Agricultural Cooperative Bank (PSACB) and PUNSUP besides making monthly payments for power subsidy as per schedule," he added. Replying to a query regarding GST compensation by the Centre Government, Punjab Finance Minister said that Punjab and other states have requested the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the GST compensation may be extended for some more years as the fiscal health of some states is still not sound. He further added that under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann the state government has been putting in best efforts to increase the revenue of the state whereas previous Congress government failed to make such efforts and remained dependent only on the GST compensation provided by the Centre Government. The Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema was accompanied by Ajoy Kumar Sinha, Principal Secretary, Finance and Mohammad Tayyab, Special Secretary, Expenditure. (editor@dailyworld.in)