Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur said on Tuesday that central government has released Rs.81,043 Cr to states. He said in Rajya Sabha that GST compensation cess of ₹7,607 crore was collected in October, ₹7,727 crore in November, ₹8,331 crore in December and ₹8,637 crore in January. For 2019-20, the amount targeted to be collected from cess in GST was ₹1.09 lakh crore. Of this, ₹70,534 crore has been collected between April-December 2019. Mr. Thakur further said that compensation cess is being levied on certain luxury and demerit goods as per provisions in Section 8 of the GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017 and is credited into a non-lapsable Fund known as Goods and Services Tax Compensation Fund which forms part of the Public Account of India.