Question : Prices of Petroleum Products

(a) whether the Government has provided subsidies on petroleum products to Armed Forces especially for the physically disabled/families who have lost their members in casualties and if so, the details thereof;
(b) the details of increase/decrease in the price of kerosene and Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) during the last three years and the current year;
(c) whether the ATF cost in the country is among the highest globally and if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government to bring down the cost of ATF and include it under the ambit of Goods and Services Tax to reduce its cost;
(d) whether the fuel/petroleum products in the country are being supplied on higher rate as compared to other countries and if so, the details thereof along with any study undertaken to assess the system being followed by other countries and implement the same methods in the country to provide fuel/petroleum products to the consumers at cheaper rates; and
(e) the details of tax and cess levied on per litre of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG by the Union and State Governments, product-wise?

MINISTER OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
(SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)
(a): Prices of Petrol and Diesel have been made market-determined effective 26.06.2010 and 19.10.2014 respectively. Since then, the Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) take appropriate decision on pricing of Petrol and Diesel in line with international product prices and other market conditions. The Government continues to modulate the effective price to consumer for Subsidized Domestic LPG and Retail Selling Price (RSP) of PDS Kerosene. This is for all consumers including those belonging to armed forces.
(b): The details of increase/decrease in prices of PDS Kerosene and Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) during the last three years and current year is given at Annexure-I and Annexure-II respectively.
(c): Clause 12 A of Article 366 of the Constitution defines ‘goods and services tax’ (GST) as “any tax on supply of goods or services or both except taxes on the supply of alcoholic liquor for human consumption”. Further Article 279 A (5) provides that Goods and Services Tax Council shall recommend the date on which goods and services tax shall be levied on petroleum crude, high speed diesel, motor spirit, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel. Thus while petroleum products are included under goods and services tax, the date on which GST shall be levied on such products shall be as per decision of the Goods and Services Tax Council.
(d): The prices of petroleum products in the country are benchmarked to international product prices. Generally, the prices of sensitive petroleum products in the country are higher/lower than other countries mainly on account of prevailing tax regime and subsidy compensations by the respective Governments.
(e): The current Excise Duty on Petrol and Diesel is Rs.19.48/litre and Rs.15.33/litre respectively. At present, applicable GST on Domestic LPG and PDS Kerosene is 5%. State-wise effective rate of taxes on Petrol and Diesel are given at Annexure-III.
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