The finance ministry said Thursday that GST refund of Rs 82,775 crore to exporters has been cleared as on October 31, which is 93.8 per cent of the total such claims with the tax authorities. In a statement, the ministry said Rs 5,400 crore worth GST refund is still pending with the government and that is being “expeditiously processed”. 

“As on October 31, 2018, total GST refunds to the tune of Rs 82,775 crore have been disposed by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and the state authorities out of the total refund claims of Rs 88,175 crore received so far,” the ministry said. 

It added that, the disposal rate of Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds is 93.8 per cent as on October 31. 

Giving the refunds’ break-up, the ministry further said that Rs 42,935 crore of IGST refunds have been disposed of as on October 31, which is 93.27 per cent of the total such claims. 

As much as Rs 3,096 crore worth of IGST refund claims are held up on account of “various deficiencies” which have been communicated to exporters for remedial action. 

With regard to refund of input tax credit claims, the ministry said of the total claims of Rs 42,145 crore, the pendency as on October 31 stood at Rs 2,305 crore. 

“Provisional/final order has been issued in case of (ITCNSE -0.05 %) refunds amounting to Rs 34,602 crore. In claims amounting to Rs 5,239 crore, deficiency memos have been issued by respective GST authorities,” the statement said. 

The ministry said there are concerns that there is a growing pendency of GST refunds and sought to assure the exporters that there is no let up in the sanction of GST refunds. 

Efforts are being made continuously to clear all the pending refund claims, where ever requisite information is provided and found eligible, it said. 

“Co-operation of the exporter community is solicited to ensure that they respond to the deficiency memos and errors communicated by Centre and State GST as well as Customs Authorities and also exercise due diligence while filing GSTR 1 and GSTR 3B returns as well as Shipping Bills,” the statement added.