Fuel price inflation: Telangana Min KTR holds Centre responsible; 'Scrap additional cess'
KTR held additional cesses levied by the Centre responsible for fuel price inflation. He said 'VAT in Telangana has remain unchanged, so who caused price rise?'
- India News
- 4 min read
Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao (KTR) on May 22 apprised that additional cesses levied by the Centre is the reason for fuel price inflation. He said that the VAT in Telangana has remain unchanged since 2014, and questioned 'what and who caused price rise and who is responsible?' The Minister took to Twitter and said that the extra levies by the Centre in the form of Special Additional Excise duty, Road & Infrastructure Cess, and Agriculture and Infrastructure Development Cess are leading to a spurt in the prices of petrol and diesel. Moreover, the revenue from these taxes are not even shared with the state governments, he added and further stated that the complete withdrawal of these taxes will spring back the petrol-diesel prices to the levels of 2014. Notably, the Centre on May 21 slashed the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 8 and Rs 6 respectively.
K T Rama Rao, who is the son of Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao, tweeted and said, "Crude oil prices in May 2014 & now in May 2022 are almost the same, Yet petrol was ₹70 per litre then & ₹120 now Telangana VAT has remained unchanged so what & who caused price rise & who is responsible?"
He further added, "Special additional excise duty, road & infrastructure cess & agriculture & infrastructure development cess, all unilaterally imposed by union govt are responsible for hike revenues from above are not shared with states If cess are scrapped, fuel prices will be at 2014 level."
Telangana FM slams central government on excise duty cut; 'Too meagre'
The Finance Minister of Telangana T Harish Rao took a jibe at the Centre's BJP-ruled government and said that they have increased the excise duty in small bits multiple times since 2014, whereas the Telangana state government hasn't changed the VAT even once since 2014. He questioned and said, "It has increased the burden several times and reduced a bit now, while the State has never increased the burden. How can it ask the States to reduce the rate.” The Minister asked the Centre to restore the cesses and duties to the 2014 level.
Hardeep Singh Puri and KTR's Twitter war on fuel price rise
In April 2022, Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted about the large tax mop-up Telangana had gathered by keeping the VAT on petrol and diesel at one of the most elevated levels in India - 35.20% on petrol and 27% on diesel and questioned where has all the money gone. He said, "The curious case of Telangana. Imposes one of the highest VAT on Petrol & diesel - 35.20% on petrol & 27% on diesel. State govt has collected ₹56,020 cr as VAT from 2014 to 2021. Projected to mop-up ₹13,315 cr in 2021-22. Adds up to a huge ₹69,334 cr. Where has it gone?"
KTR responded and said that the price rise in petrol and diesel is the result of the multi-layered duties and cesses levied by the central government and thus, the states do not get their rightful share of the revenues. "Isn’t it true that the price increase is solely because of additional excise duties and Cesses imposed by NPA Govt? Why don’t you advice PM to scrap CESS so we can give Petrol at ₹70 & Diesel at ₹60 all over India. Isn’t it true that ₹26.5 Lakh Cr as CESS collected by NPA Govt? We don't get 41% of our rightful share because of the Cess imposed by your govt. In the form of Cess you are looting 11.4% from the state & we are getting only 29.6% for FY23. The least someone learned like you can do is to stop indulging in subterfuge for political purposes."