Addressing
the workshop on ‘Converging the Divergence between Diesel and Petrol Prices’ here today, the Minister of State (I/C)
for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said that India has a
long history of imposing taxes/duties on petroleum products viz petrol and
diesel and these taxes/duties have been rationalised from time to time to
insulate the domestic consumers for increase in price or to increase the
revenue of the Government for developmental projects.
Highlighting
the recommendation made by the Expert Group chaired by Dr. Kirit Parikh on
converging the divergence between diesel and petrol prices, Shri Dharmendra
Pradhan said that apart for taxes/duties, others factors like technology,
disruptive technology, renewable energy impact etc shall also be taken into
consideration. He further said that once the petroleum products come into the
ambit of GST, the issue of tax rate differentials will be automatically
resolved. The Minister said that diesel is used for agricultural purpose and
for public transport and these are the reasons why the taxes/duties on diesel are
kept lower compared to petrol. He stressed that the low cost diesel is not meant
for SUVs and cars.
Keeping
in view the emissions concern, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said that Bharat Stage
VI (BS VI) will be introduced by April 2020 and it will be as clean as CNG. The
refineries are being upgraded for BS VI production with an investment of Rs.
30,000 cr, he added.
The
Minister said that after the roll out of Daily Pricing of Motor Spirit (MS) and
High Speed Diesel (HSD) from June 2017, there has been a better synchronisation
with international prices and also enhanced logistics management for oil
industry.
During
the occasion, the Minister also released a book titled ‘A case for rationalise
of the central excise duty’.
The
workshop was organised by Integrated Research and Action for Development
(IRADe). The workshop included presentation session on impact of diesel and
petrol price rationalisation and different panel
discussions on State finances, trucking sector, oil marketing companies, buses
sector, cars sector and agriculture sector.
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KM