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The Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) has asked the government to bring petrol and diesel under the ambit of GST to bring down the fuel rates, a day after prices of petrol in Delhi crossed the Rs 100 a litre-mark. It also urged the central government to withdraw the increased excise duty that was introduced last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CTI said ‘Crude oil was the cheapest in the last 16 years in 2020-21. During corona, between March and May, 2020, when crude oil became cheaper, the central government increased the excise duty on petrol by Rs 13/litre and diesel by Rs 16/litre’.

It noted that the dealer price of petrol in Delhi is Rs 40.62/litre, central excise duty on it is Rs 32.90/litre, VAT is Rs 23.13/litre, while dealer commission is Rs 3.60/litre, that is, the tax being levied on per litre of petrol is Rs 56.03. Similarly, the dealer price of diesel is Rs 42.39/litre, excise duty is Rs 31.80/litre, VAT is Rs 12.85/litre while dealer commission is Rs 2.53/litre, making the tax levied on diesel Rs 44.65/litre.

CTI chairman Brijesh Goyal said the traders’ body had recommended bringing petrol and diesel in the ‘maximum luxury slab of 28 per cent of GST’, and levy Central GST (CGST) and State (GST) of Rs 18 per litre each on petrol. Due to this, the price of petrol including dealer commission is 80.22, and petrol will be cheaper by about Rs 20/litre. Similarly, Goyal said if Rs 15 worth of CGST and SGST each is levied on diesel, the price of diesel including dealer commission will be Rs 74.92 and diesel will become cheaper by about Rs 15/litre.