GST Council meet: No decision on inclusion of petroleum products

Petroleum and diesel prices are at peak with Rs 71 and Rs 61, respectively. As the GST Council met on Thursday to discuss single form for tax filing, inclusion of petroleum products and real estate in the GST, the council brought down tax rate on 29 items and 54 categories of services, but the agenda on petrol was deferred for the next GST Council meeting.

"It has been decided the agendas on real estate, petrol products and electricity duty will be discussed in the next GST meet," Bihar Finance Minister and GST Council member Sushil Modi told media after the meeting.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also said the next meeting of the Council might consider bringing items like crude oil, natural gas, petrol, diesel, ATF and real estate within the GST purview.

Mumbai is India's most expensive city for motorists with non-branded petrol selling at Rs 79.15 per litre while diesel is priced at Rs 65.90 per litre. In Chennai, petrol is going for close to Rs 74 per litre and diesel at Rs 65.23 per litre. Delhiites are having an easier time comparatively with petrol priced at Rs 71.56 and diesel at Rs 61.88 a litre.

Sushil Modi had recently said the inclusion of petrol products could happen without amending the Constitution, and that both states and the Centre could earn 40 per cent of revenue from petroleum products. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had also told Rajya Sabha the centre was ready to include petroleum products under the new tax regime but a consensus with states was needed.

The industry body Assocham had raised doubt on the inclusion, saying the inclusion would happen as states and the centre were over-dependent on the sector for revenue collection.

The BJP-led government has cut excise duty only once during its tenure but raised it nine times between November 2014 and January 2016. In October 2017, when petrol price reached Rs 70.88 per litre in Delhi and diesel was priced at Rs 59.14, the government lowered excise duty by Rs 2 per litre. But the central levy on fuels was still twice of what was charged three years ago. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, on asking if the centre would cut excise duty on the two fuels by asking states to first cut VAT, last week said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had written to the states seeking reduction in VAT.