Hopeful that petrol, diesel will come under GST in near future, says PHD Chamber

New Delhi [India], September 17 : PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) is very hopeful that if not now then in the near future petroleum products will be brought under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) ambit.
"If petroleum products are brought under GST there will be no direct benefit as the petroleum price will remain the same," Sanjay Aggarwal, President PHDCCI told ANI.
Aggarwal said that currently many states are opposing bringing petrol, diesel under GST. They fear losing the revenue but when GST was introduced it was basically to ensure that there is no multiplication of taxes. The industry is not able to get any input tax credit.
"As far as the consumer is concerned, there will be no direct benefit. Even if the GST is becoming applicable to all petroleum products, the petroleum price will remain the same. But as far as the trade industry is concerned, if there is the transportation cost on account of fuel, we are not getting an input tax credit".
"Fuel is having a substantial impact on the cost of freight. Similarly, lots of petroleum products diesel etc are consumed in factories for Gensets, boiler. If these are allowed to have a credit of GST on all these goods that will ultimately end up reducing the price of the goods that are consumed," said Aggarwal.
He further said, "PHD chamber is in strong support of bringing petroleum products under GST. We are very hopeful that If not now, maybe in the near future state and centre will come on the agreement to bring diesel petrol under GST Ambit".
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday chaired the 45th Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting in Lucknow. Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Sitharaman informed that the council discussed bringing petrol and diesel under the GST regime as per the directions of the Kerala High Court. However, she said members spoke clearly they wouldn't want it to be included in GST.
Commenting on the recent cabinet decision to allow 100 per cent FDI in the telecom sector, Aggarwal said, "This decision will save one of the three telecom players. That means that you have a vibrant sector, you have some fair competition and that will be good for the consumer in every means and I very warmly welcome this step by the government".
He said that the Production Linked Scheme for the Automobile and Drone sectors will help the country to achieve USD 400 billion export target. "This will have a very positive effect on the production of goods domestically not only for the Indian market but also for exports," he added.
Speaking on the impact on India-Afghanistan trade after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Aggarwal said, "If you see the numbers that are not too big, our exports to Afghanistan is around USD 500 million and our imports from Afghanistan are somewhere around USD 300 million. These numbers are not all that important compared to our total export basket on a global scale. USD 500 billion export is only 3 per cent of our total exports, similarly 2.15 per cent of our imports, something like that. In any case, a lot of products will get rerouted through various other geographies."
"So, it is not a major impact to the day. What is of real importance to India is the geopolitical impact or the consequences of the change of regime that has happened in the nation. And we are very sure that the Government of India is taking all the steps to ensure that both the strategic and economic interests of our country are being looked at," he added.
Afghanistan plunged into crisis last month after Kabul fell to the Taliban and the democratically elected government of former president Ashraf Ghani collapsed.