Puri says consensus needed for bringing fuels under GST

Pune: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday said he favoured bringing petrol and diesel under the Goods and Services Tax, but the decision needs unanimous support of the states.

Puri was delivering a lecture on 'strategy and measures for enhancing India's energy security in the coming decades', organised by the Pune International Centre here.

"... there is a suggestion to bring petrol and diesel under GST, which I was advocating for a long period of time. Now my senior colleague, the finance minister also has spoken about bringing fuel under GST on several occasions," he said.

The Kerala High Court had suggested that the GST council take this up on its agenda, Puri further said.

"My recollection is that at a meeting in Allahabad, it came up....but as you know that GST council works on the principle of consensus and unanimity and the state chief ministers have to agree," the minister said.

"We are currently in the situation that BJP-ruled states have reduced their VAT, and non-BJP states are not even willing to forego the additional VAT, so I do not see that is happening," he said.