Jaitley bats for GST on petroleum products in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi [India], Dec 19 (ANI): Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said that the government is in favour of including petroleum and petroleum products under the ambit of Goods and Services Tax (GST), and is awaiting a consensus from all states.

"Government is in favour of bringing petroleum products under GST. We would like to await consensus of the states and hope states at some stage sooner or later agree to the consensus," said Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha today.

Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram started a heated discussion in the Upper House, questioning the centre over its decision to delay the implementation of the tax slab on petroleum products.

"The law allows petroleum products to be brought under GST. The question really is, when will the GST council decide? When will the GST council take up the subject? And what is the position of the central government which has virtually a veto on the decision of the GST council?" he said.

"Now that BJP is in power in 19 states and at the centre what prevents them from bringing petroleum products under GST? When will the GST Council take up this subject?" Chidambaram added.

"UPA also while presenting the draft of GST had not included petroleum under GST as they knew it would be a deal breaker between the states and the centre if the petroleum brought under GST," said Jaitley.

Recently, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, who is also a member of the GST Council, had said that the inclusion of petrol and diesel under GST was being deliberated upon.

It is to be noted that states and centre both currently make about 40 percent of their revenue through the sale of petroleum products.

If petrol and diesel are brought under the 28 percent slab of the GST, the price of petrol will drop to around Rs. 43 per litre and diesel to around Rs. 48 per litre. (ANI)