Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday that bringing petroleum products under the purview of GST will further reduce the tax on petrol, diesel and increase the revenue of the central and state governments. Gadkari said that with the support of the state governments, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will definitely try to bring petrol and diesel under the ambit of GST.
“The Finance Ministers of the states are also members in the GST Council. Some states are against bringing petrol and diesel under GST, whereas if petrol, diesel will be brought under GST, then the tax on these will be reduced and the revenue of both the Center and the states will increase. The GST Council in its September 17 meeting. I decided to keep petrol and diesel out of the purview of GST,” Gadkari said.
At the same time, on the question related to the reduction of excise duty on petrol and diesel by the central government by Rs 5 and 10 respectively, Gadkari said that the central government has taken a good step to give relief to the common man. “The way the Center has cut excise duty giving relief to the common man, it is expected that the state governments will also follow it and cut VAT. This will give more relief to the common man,” he said.
On allegations that the Center has taken this step in view of the results of by-elections to 30 assembly constituencies and three Lok Sabha seats, Gadkari said that politics is a medium for socio-economic reforms for us. “We don’t do politics to win elections,” he said.
Notably, the Central government had slashed the excise duty by Rs 5 and Rs 10 on petrol and diesel respectively on the eve of Diwali after which several states announced additional reductions in fuel prices. This brought down petrol and diesel prices in the country.
The decision came at a time when petrol and diesel price saw their lifetime high before the Centre and the states announced excise duty cuts.
