An Indian ministerial panel on the country’s goods and services tax will consider taxing petroleum products under a national rate, according to people familiar with the matter, opening the door to potentially major changes in consumer prices and government revenues.
Panel headed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will examine the motion at its meeting on Friday, when an Indian court asked to take up the matter, the people said, adding that the request to be recognized as the agenda of the meeting is not public.
A spokesperson for the finance ministry did not immediately respond to calls for comment.
Any change to the GST system would require approval from three-quarters of the panel, which includes representatives from all states and territories – some of whom have opposed the inclusion of fuel in the system as they are a major revenue-generating entity. Will hand over equipment. to the Central Government.
A similar levy move for the fuel, discussed earlier by CNBC-TV18, will help soften gasoline and diesel prices, largely due to taxes levied by federal and state governments in recent months. Testing records.
Levies make up more than half of fuel costs in the country, a sore point for the inflation-targeting Reserve Bank of India as it seeks to keep borrowing costs down to support the economic recovery from the pandemic. Diesel and gasoline consume more than half of the country’s fuel.
People said that in its meeting on Friday, the GST panel plans to consider giving concessions for another three months till December 31 on certain drugs used in COVID-19 treatment. He said that the government will also present options to states to compensate their GST losses after next year.
CNBC-TV18 reported that the panel will probably also consider increasing the GST on some renewable equipment to 12% and on iron, copper and other metal ores and concentrates to 18%.
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