Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged states to reduce their taxes on fuels like petrol and diesel, the prices of which have been digging a hole in consumers’ pockets.
“In order to reduce the burden of rising petrol and diesel prices, the central government had reduced the excise duty last November. States were also urged to reduce their taxes. Some states have reduced their tax, but some states have not given its benefits to their people,” Modi said during an interaction with Chief Ministers on the COVID-19 situation.
Modi said Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu for one reason or the other reason did not abide by the words of the central government and the citizens of those states continued to be burdened.
“I pray that what was to be done in November, now by reducing VAT, you should pass on the benefit to the citizens,” he said.
His remarks come at a time when petrol prices have surged past Rs 100 a litre mark in all major cities across the country while diesel is above that level in several places in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chattisgarh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
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The prices of petrol and diesel were last hiked on April 6, making the fuels dearer by Rs 10 a litre within 16 days.
In November last year, the Centre had cut excise duty on diesel by Rs 10 a litre and by Rs 5 on petrol. Following this, as many as 25 states and Union territories lowered value-added tax (VAT) on the two fuels.
The entire revenue loss on account of reduction in excise duty was to be borne by the Centre, Finance Secretary T V Somanathan had said.
First Published: Apr 27, 2022 2:02 PM IST
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