India / Ready to discuss bringing petrol, diesel under GST: FM Sitharaman

New Delhi: Facing intense criticism over skyrocketing fuel prices, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the government is open to discussing bringing petrol and diesel under the indirect tax regime in the next meeting of the GST Council.

She also said it's not just Centre but states too that that tax petrol and diesel.

“A point which members raised - bring petrol & diesel into GST. The highest tax today on petrol & diesel is in Maharashtra. I'm not pointing out whether one state is more or less. The point is, states also tax fuel, not just Centre. When Centre taxes it's part of devolvable amount,” said FM in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

She further said the matter can be taken up for discussion during the next meeting of the GST Council.

“Centre also taxes, states also tax. If there is this concern about fuel tax, I honestly think based on today's discussion - many of the states would be watching this & in the next GST council if that discussion comes up, I will be glad to have it on the agenda & discuss it,” she added.

The Finance Minister’s statement comes within days of clarifying that there is no proposal as of now to bring crude oil, petrol, diesel, jet fuel (ATF) and natural gas under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). It is to be noted that these five commodities were kept outside the purview of the indirect tax regime when it was introduced on July 1, 2017, amalgamating over a dozen central and state levies.

This essentially meant that the central government continued to levy excise duty on them while state governments charged VAT. These taxes, with excise duty, in particular, have been raised periodically. A spike in global crude oil prices due to demand recovery has pushed international prices of fuel to record highs.

"At present, there is no proposal to bring crude petroleum, petrol, diesel, ATF and natural gas under GST," Sitharaman said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha earlier. She also said that GST Council, as per law, shall recommend the date on which the goods and services tax be levied on petroleum crude, high-speed diesel, motor spirit (commonly known as petrol), natural gas and ATF.

"So far, the GST Council, in which the states are also represented, has not made any recommendation for inclusion of these goods under GST," she added.

To a separate question, MoS Finance, Anurag Singh Thakur, said excise duty on petrol was Rs 19.98 per litre a year back and is Rs 32.9 now. Similarly, on diesel, the excise duty has been raised from Rs 15.83 to Rs 31.8.