New Delhi, Nov 25 : Government has released Rs 17,000 crore towards the balance GST compensation for April-June period of the current fiscal. The total amount of compensation released to the states so far, including the aforesaid amount, during 2022-23 is Rs 1,15,662 crore, official sources said. This is despite the fact that total cess collection till October, 2022 is only Rs 72,147 crore and the balance of Rs 43,515 crore is being released by the Centre from its own resources. With this, Government has released, in advance, the entire amount of cess estimated to be collected this year till March-end available for payment of compensation to states, the finance ministry said in a statement. This decision was made to assist the states in managing their resources and ensuring that their programmes, especially the expenditure on capital is carried out successfully during the financial year. /IANS