Bring petroleum, diesel under GST, says Congress

With the “brazen increase” in excise duty on petrol and diesel leading to a steep hike in prices, the State Congress on Wednesday demanded that the Centre bring both petrol and diesel under Goods and Services Tax (GST). Comparing the prices of petrol and diesel before 2014 till today, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G. Parameshwara said the Modi government has hiked excise duty 14 times — from 9.5% to 21.5% — in the last three years. As a result, the Union government’s revenue has increased from ₹77,982 crore in 2014 to ₹2,42,961 crore in September 2017. “Where has the additional revenue gone? Did the Modi government pass on the benefits to the people?” he said. Dr. Parameshwara said bringing petrol and diesel under GST would reduce the price of fuel by nearly 50%. Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan too has been advocating for the inclusion of all petroleum products within the ambit of GST. “While crude oil prices have plummeted, petrol and diesel prices have skyrocketed,” the Congress leader said. Besides excise duty, the cost of crude oil and refining declined from ₹44.8 a litre to ₹26.7 a litre; oil marketing companies margin increased from ₹3.2 to ₹4.1 per litre; dealers’ commission increased from ₹2 to ₹3.2 per litre; and VAT was up from ₹11.9 to ₹15 per litre during 2014-17, Dr. Parameshwara told presspersons here. ‘Cheating public’ Noting that fuel prices were low in other South Asian countries also, he said the NDA government has been “cheating the public” without substantiating reasons for the hike. Though globally, crude oil prices per barrel have declined from $96 in 2014 to $52 now, the Centre has not made any effort to cut prices, he said. On demonetisation of high-value currencies, Dr. Parameshwara said the country’s GDP plummeted from 10.3% in 2010-11 to 5.7% in 2017-18. All sectors of the economy have slowed down owing to demonetisation and implementation of GST. All economists, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former RBI Governors Y.V. Reddy, D. Subbarao, Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, predicted the depression in the economy, the KPCC chief said.