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Petroleum products need to be brought under GST: IOCL Chairman

Currently, crude oil, petrol, diesel, jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and natural gas are not included in GST, which kicked in from July 1.

Petroleum products need to be brought under GST: IOCL Chairman

New Delhi: Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) Chairman on Tuesday stressed on bringing petroleum products under the GST to provide relief to common people from spurt in fuel prices.

“There is no directive from the government to control fuel price. Spikes (in prices) were happening earlier and we decided to hold the prices for 19 days. All the petroleum products should come under GST,” ANI quoting IOCL Chairman said.

Currently, crude oil, petrol, diesel, jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and natural gas are not included in GST, which kicked in from July 1.

Petrol price touched a record high of Rs 76.87 per litre and diesel climbed to its highest ever level of Rs 68.08 as the oil PSUs passed on four weeks of relentless rise in international oil prices to consumers.

This is the ninth straight day of price increase since oil PSUs on May 14 resumed daily price revision after a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus.

The central government levies Rs 19.48 a litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs 15.33 per litre on diesel. State sales tax or VAT vary from state to state. In Delhi, VAT on petrol is Rs 15.84 and Rs 9.68 a litre on diesel.

State-owned oil companies in June 2017, dumped the 15-year old practice of revising rates on 1st and 16th of every month and instead adopted a dynamic daily price revision to instantly reflect changes in cost.

Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had several times in the past said that his Ministry is trying to bring petrol and diesel under the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

"We are trying that petrol, diesel and kerosene should also come under the ambit of GST. We are hopeful that the GST Council will agree to it shortly," the Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister had said.