Once States Agree, Petroleum Products Can Be Brought Under GST: Nirmala Sitharaman

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 16th Feb. Petroleum products can be included in GST if council members agree, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday.

“The provision is already available for petroleum products to be brought into the GST. My predecessor had already made the window kept open. Once the states agree we will have the petroleum products also covered under GST. So, that’s not so much us not doing it, and the entire (GST) council saying ‘yes’,” she said.

She made the remarks in response to a question during a post-Budget interactive session of the industry body, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) here.

“Not just yes…what they (council members) have to do is to determine a rate and once they tell me the rate, we get it into the GST,” she added.

On February 18, the GST Council will hold its 49th meeting in the national capital, which will be presided over by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

In addition, she stated that the continued push on infrastructure building through higher capex allocation is necessary to maintain India’s economic growth momentum in 2023-24.

The central government is ensuring that the public expenditure continues to grow to have a desired multiplier effect on all the sectors, she said.

“The momentum on growth should not be relaxed or diluted, if anything, there should be greater ascent for that growth which we want to sustain at a good level,” she added.

For the third year in a row, capital investment outlay is being increased by 33% to 10 lakh crore, or 3.3 percent of GDP. This is nearly three times the outlay in 2019-20.

Since 2015-16, the capex allocation has increased fourfold, from 2.5 lakh crore to 10 lakh crore (budget estimate for 2023-24).

“For the last 3-4 years, there has been a consistent emphasis on public capital expenditure, such as in last year’s budget, and this year’s budget has seen a 30 per cent increase in capital expenditure. This is the first time in many years that the capital expenditure has reached a double-digit amount, making it the clear focus of this budget,” she added.

Speaking about her Budget speech, which was 87 minutes in duration, she said the idea was to keep it “clear and simple”.

Later in her speech, when discussing fiscal discipline, she stated that the government is on track.

The fiscal deficit has steadily decreased, falling from 7.3% in 2020-21 to 5.9% in 2023-24. It was estimated to be 6.4% in 2022-23.

In her Budget speech, she reaffirmed the government’s intention to reduce the fiscal deficit to less than 4.5 percent of GDP by fiscal year 2025-26.

“I must congratulate the entire ministry for ensuring that the budget which is fiscally responsible but very clear on the target that the growth has to be momentum,” she added.