On Thursday, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was asked to comment upon when will the prices of petrol come done, to which she said the “When”, it is a ‘Dharam-Sankat’. Sitharaman said that the only possible way right now, to find a solution to the rising prices of petrol and diesel is through the negotiation between Center and states.
“I won’t be able to say ‘when’.. it is a ‘Dharam Sankat”,
she said at an event in Ahmedabad, according to news agency ANI.
“It’s not just the cess. You have the excise duty of the Centre, then you have the VAT of the states. You are right when you say that the Centre earns more. Everything that the Centre earns, 40 percent goes to states. So there’s is no hiding the fact that there is revenue there. It is not just me, you ask any state. There is revenue there,”
ANI quoted her as saying further.
“There is revenue consideration, both by the Centre and states and that is why I strongly believe it is no longer competitive,”
she added.
“I agree that the end-users should pay less for fuel. I concede that’s where action has to be, let’s see what we can do,”
– Sitharaman opinionated.
Earlier on Thursday, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said
There is a need for coordinated action between the central and state “governments to reduce taxes on petrol and diesel prices.”
“There is a need for coordinated action between the center and the states because there are inherent taxes levied by both,”
– the governor said, adding that calibrated reduction of taxes is important.
However, he said that both the central and state governments are under pressure of their revenue and need to spend high sums to get the country and the people out of the stress of the COVID-19 epidemic.
There has been a sharp rise in petrol and diesel in the country from time to time. The increase in the last weeks has taken petrol to cross the historic high of Rs 100 in many cities. The fuel prices have increased more than 25 times this year.
