GST refund drive extended till June 16

New Delhi, June 12 (IANS) The government on Tuesday extended the special fortnight-long drive to process pending GST refunds by two more days till June 16.

It said that refunds worth over Rs 7,500 crore were already sanctioned as a part of this drive till now compared to Rs 5,350 crore sanctioned in the earlier drive which lasted from March 15 to 29.

"In view of overwhelming response from exporters and pending claims, the period of refund fortnight is being extended by two more days, that is up to June 16," an official statement said.

The government had last month announced the fortnight-long drive from May 31 to June 14.

In March, the government had launched a similar exercise to process the pending GST refunds on account of exports. However this time, the drive is to facilitate all types of refund claims received till April 30. 

"This will include refunds of IGST paid on exports, refunds of unutilized input tax credit and all other GST refunds," the Finance Ministry had said in a statement when the drive was launched.