The Finance Ministry has announced zero excise and Customs duty on all domestic LPG. Earlier, this was restricted to only subsidised domestic LPG. Since the Government had announced capping subsdised cylinder to six and earlier notification was only on that, the government has come out with a new notification. The Finance Ministry has also appreciated Bihar Government's move to reduce VAT on diesel. The Finance Minister hopes that other states will follow the same.
PTI reports : After removal of 5 per cent Customs duty and 8 per cent excise duty, the consumer price in Delhi would come to Rs 798. Subsidised cooking gas (LPG) in Delhi is currently sold at Rs 399 a cylinder.
“Since some LPG cylinders will not be subsidised, we have amended the notification for the non-subsidised household LPG cylinders... customs and excise (on them) will be zero”, Chidambaram told reporters.
Non-subsidised commercial LPG cylinders, however, would continue to attract Customs duty of 5 per cent and excise duty at 8 per cent.
Taking a cue from the Congress-ruled states which have increased the number of subsidised cylinders to nine per year, the Minister asked other states to follow suit.
“I welcome the decision of certain state governments to subsidise three cylinders per year of LPG in addition to six cylinders for which the subsidy would be borne by the central government...I would commend all state governments to adopt such an approach”, he said.