After a slew of protests from the citizens of India, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has decided to cut down VAT on fuel by 4% starting today. He said the prices of petrol and diesel will now come down by Rs 2.93 and Rs 2.72 respectively. Gujarat government’s decision comes after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had asked the states to cut sales tax or VAT on petrol and diesel to provide further relief to consumers from high fuel prices.
On October 5, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had asked states to follow the Centre’s footsteps in cutting taxes on petrol and diesel and said auto fuel – natural gas should also be included in the GST to cut cascading effect of duties. Earlier, the central government had cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per liter each to provide relief to consumers from three-month long relentless price hike.
“We have requested all the states (to cut VAT) and I and sure that all the states will revisit their tax structure. Consumer interest is top priority. Just like excise Duty has been cut by the Centre keeping consumer interest in mind, states would also follow suit,” he said.
On October 9, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had said that his government will appeal to the Centre to lower the ‘base price’ of petrol and diesel which stands at INR 55 a liter in the eastern Indian state. “While base price of petrol and diesel in Bihar stands at INR 55 a liter, the same is INR 51 a liter in Jharkhand. We will make a strong plea to the Union Petroleum Ministry to lower this base price,” Kumar told.
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